History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 32

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 32

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The next year he began practice permanently in Uniontown, where his commanding talents and supe- rior legal attainments soon secured him an extensive and lucrative practice, and before many years he be- came the acknowledged leader of the bar in this place. In several instances he succeeded in obtain- ing from the Supreme Court of this State a reversal of their previous decisions.

In February, 1822, he was married to Jane, daugh- ter of Judge John Kennedy. She died in 1825, and in 1830 he married Anne, danghter of David Denny, of Chambersburg. On the 15th of February, 1838, he was appointed by Governor Joseph Ritner president judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Thomas Baird. He served the constitutional term of ten years, and left the bench with the increased con- . fidence of the people in his integrity and legal quali- fications, and without a stain on his judicial ermine. He never again returned to the practice of law, ex- cept in occasional cases in the interest of old friends, but such was the confidence of his legal brethren in his ability and sound judgment that his advice was often sought in important cases. As a citizen, Judge Ewing was ever ready and anxious to promote the interests of the community in which he lived. An evidence of this is found in the early history of the Fayette County Railroad. At a time when none could be induced to join him in the enterprise, he gave his time, his talents, and pecuniary and personal aid to carry it through, and it is quite certain that it could not have been built at that time but for his energy and influence. He died on the 8th of February, 1874.

John Bouvier was a resident of Fayette County for abont nine years, during a part of which time he practiced as an attorney in Uniontown. He was a native of the department of Du Gard, in the south of France, and born in the year 1787. At the age of fifteen he emigrated with his parents to Philadelphia, where in 1812 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, and about that time erected a building in West Philadelphia, which he used as a printing- office, and which is still standing. Two years later he removed to Fayette County, and located in Browns- ville, where he established the American Telegraph, a weekly newspaper. While publishing this paper he was also engaged in the study of law, and in Decem- ber, 1818, he was admitted to the Fayette County bar at Uniontown, to which borough he had removed in the same year, and united his Telegraph newspaper with the Genius of Liberty, being associated in the editorship with John M. Austin. Bouvier, after his admission to the bar, gave his attention principally to the law, and in July, 1820, sold his interest in the paper. At the September term of 1822 he was ad- mitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania, and in the following year removed to Phil- adelphia. He was appointed recorder of that city in 1836, and in 1838 was commissioned associate justice of the Criminal Court. He continued to reside in Philadelphia until his death, which oceurred in 1851.

During the period of his residence in Uniontown, Mr. Bouvier conceived the idea of compiling a law dictionary for the use of his brethren of the Ameri- can bar. He labored assiduously and constantly to accomplish the work, and in 1839 published two oc-

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tavo volumes, which he presented "to his brethren and the world at large" for approval, and which re- ceived commendation in the highest terms from Chief Justice Story and Chancellor Kent. From 1842 to 1846 he produced a revised edition of the work, com- prising ten royal octavo volumes. In 1848 he pub- lished the third edition, in which many of the articles were carefully revised and remodeled, and more than twelve hundred others added. After his death it was found that he had partially prepared a large amount of additional and valuable material, and this was put in the proper form by competent persons, and incor- porated in the fourth edition, which was published in 1852. At the same time that he was engaged on the "Dictionary," Mr. Bouvier commenced the prepara- tion of another work, entitled "Institutes of Ameri- can Law," which was completed in 1851. Both these works have received the highest encomiums from the bench and bar for the extensive research and legal knowledge exhibited in their pages, and it is ac- knowledged that they rank among the best contribu- tions to the legal literature of the country.

Jacob B. Miller was the son of John Miller, a tan- ner, and an early settler in Uniontown, where Jacob was born ou the 21st of February, 1799. He studied law with Parker Campbell, in Washington, Pa., and was admitted to the Fayette County bar in Novem- ber, 1821. He was the founder of the Pennsylvania Democrat (now the Standard), at Uniontown. He served in the Legislature of Pennsylvania in the years 1832 and 1833. A just estimate of the charac- ter and standing which he sustained as a lawyer and a man during the many years of his life is summed up in a resolution adopted by the Fayette County bar at his death, viz .: "That we regarded Mr. Miller as a man of ripe scholarship and character, of earnest convictions, and of rare independence. What he be- lieved to be the right he npheld, and what he be- lieved to be wrong he opposed, regardless of conse- quences. Although a lifelong and active party man, wlien his party's action did not coincide with his own views it found in him a determined and able foe." Mr. Miller died Dec. 6, 1878, in the eightieth year of his age.

James Todd, who was for almost half a century a resident of Fayette County, and an able member of its bar for many years during that period, was of Scotch descent, and born in York County, Pa., Dec. 25, 1786. In the early part of 1787 his parents re- moved to Fayette County, where his mother died during the same summer. His father survived her only a few months, but previous to his death in- trusted his infant child to the care of Duncan Mc- Lean, a Scotchman and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. In this family he was reared, and became an indentured apprentice. Until after the expiration of his apprenticeship his education had been of the most limited character, such only as could be afforded by a year and a half of attendance at the common

schools in a neighborhood recently settled. Being very desirous, however, of improving his education, he availed himself of every opportunity that pre- sented itself, reading such books as were to be found in a new settlement, and studying late at night after the completion of his day's labor. He joined a de- bating society, and was so successful in their contests and developed such ready powers in debate that his attention was directed to local politics and (eventu- ally) to the study of law. In the fall of 1815 he was appointed one of the county commissioners (to fill a vacancy by death) of Fayette County, and was in 1816 elected for three years. While commissioner he began the study of law with Judge John Bouvier. Upon the expiration of his term as commissioner (in 1819) he was elected to the State Legislature, and was afterwards re-elected for four additional succes- sive terms, taking an active and leading part in its proceedings. Having continued his studies with Judge Bouvier four years, he was admitted to the bar in Fayette County, Oct. 30, 1823. He met with im- mediate success, which continued through his whole professional career. In September, 1825, he was ap- pointed by Governor Shultze prothonotary and clerk of Fayette County, but having been an active Adams man in 1828, and a zealous advocate of the election of Governor Ritner in 1829, he was in February, 1830, removed by Governor Wolf.

During his tenure of these offices his practice as a lawyer was necessarily restricted to the adjoining coun- ties of Somerset, Greene, and Washington. In De- cember, 1835, he was appointed attorney-general of the State by the late Governor Ritner, and thereupon removed to Philadelphia. This position he held until early in 1838. The same Governor appointed him president judge of the Court of Criminal Sessions of the city and county of Philadelphia, in which position he remained until 1840, when the court was abolisbed by the Legislature. He then resumed the practice of the law in Philadelphia, and at once took a front rank among the leaders of the bar.

He continued there until 1852, when failing health and the death of a son (David) induced him to re- move to Westmoreland County, where he continued to reside, in the quiet and easy pursuit of his profes- sion and of agriculture, until his death, which oc- curred on the 3d of September, 1863, in the seventy- seventh year of his age. No better summary of the life and character of Judge Todd can be given than that embodied in the resolution offered by the Hon. Edgar Cowan, and adopted at a meeting of the Greensburg bar, on the occasion of his death, viz .:

" Resolved, That while we lament the death and do honor to the memory of Judge Todd, the example of his life, so eminent for ability, integrity, and patriot- ism, ought not to be lost to the young, but be held np for encouragement and imitation. He was the architect of his own fortunes, and, subsisting by his labor, withont the aid of schools or masters, he won

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

his way to the Legislature, to the bar, to the cabinet, and to the bench, acquitting himself in all with dis- tinction. He was also an ardent lover of his country, a temperate and just man, and a sincere Christian. His years were as full as his honors, and extended almost to fourscore years."

Joshua B. Howell was a native of New Jersey, and pursued the study of the law in Philadelphia, where he was admitted to the bar. In the latter part of 1827 he removed to Fayette County, and made his residence in Uniontown, where he was admitted to the bar Jan. 5, 1828. In 1831 he was appointed district attorney by Attorney-General Samuel Douglass, and served to and including the year 1833. He formed a law partnership with Judge Thomas Irwin, and later with Judge Nathaniel Ewing. Mr. Howell was a careful and able lawyer, a man of fine address, a good speaker, and very successful in his pleadings before juries. In 1861 he raised a regiment (mustered as the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania), and entered the service as its colonel in the war of the Rebellion. He served in command of the regiment until the 14th of Sep- tember, 1864, when he was killed by a fall from his horse, on the lines in front of Petersburg, Va.

Moses Hampton was an eminent lawyer, but only a few years a resident of Fayette County. He was a native of Beaver County, Pa., born Oct. 28, 1803. He graduated at Washington College, and soon after re- moved to Uniontown to accept a professorship in Madison College at that place. He continued in that position for about two years, during which time he commenced the study of law in the office of John M. Austin. In 1827 he married a daughter of John Mil- ler, and sister of Jacob B. Miller, of Uniontown, He was admitted to the Fayette County bar in March, 1828, and in 1829 removed to Somerset County, where he became associated in business with the Hon. Jere- miah S. Black and Charles Ogle. In 1838 he removed to Pittsburgh, which was his place of residence during the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Congress of the United States in 1847-49. In 1853 he was elected president judge of the court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. He died June 24, 1878.

James Veech was one of the most widely-known and able lawyers of Fayette County or of Western Pennsylvania. He was a native of this county, born near New Salem, Sept. 18, 1808. After gradu- ating with the highest honors at Jefferson College he came to Uniontown, and became a law-student in the office of Judge Todd. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1831, and commenced practice in the Fay- ette County courts, where by unswerving integrity and close application to the business of his profession he soon took rank among the leading practitioners of that day. A just tribute to the admirable qualities of Judge Veech, together with a brief sketch of some of the leading events of his life, is found in the record of the proceedings of a meeting of members of the Pittsburgh bar, convened upon the occasion of his

deatlı, which occurred Dec. 10, 1879. From that record is taken the following, viz .:

"The departing year takes with it James Veech, whose threescore years and ten are now closed, years of labor, honor, and professional excellence. Before he is committed to that narrow house appointed for all living men let us pause and estimate his worth and character, and make an enduring record of the virtues that adorned his long life and gave him that high place in the profession and the State to which his ripe learning and unvarying integrity entitled him.

" In stature, mental and physical, nature bad marked him as one born to brave the battle of life with un- flagging courage and tireless industry, and to secure a triumph not more honorable to himself than useful in good deeds to his fellow-men. He graduated at Jefferson College, being the youngest member of his class, and acquired an education which in subsequent years he greatly improved, keeping up his study of the classics during his professional labors and be- coming familiar with the standard Greek and Latin authors. There were with him at college many who I have risen to places of honor and usefulness, and, like him, added to its long roll of distinguished men.

" After leaving college he went to Uniontown, Pa., and in 1829 began reading law under the direction of the late Judge Todd, who was then one of the promi- nent lawyers of the western part of the State. Fu October, 1831, he was admitted to the bar, and began a career which has shed lustre on his name and his profession. There were then in full practice Andrew Stewart, John M. Austin. John Dawson, of Fayette County, now all gone. Thomas M. T. MeKennan and Thomas MeGuffie appeared among its members at times,-men whose reputations are yet fresh in the recollection of many persons now living. Surrounded by such men, and inspired by their influence, Mr. Veech became an ardent student in the true meaning of the term, and read and loved the common law, because it laid open to his view the foundations of those great principles upon which the most sacred rights of per- sons and property rest.

" After some years of constant and continued ap- plication to his professional duties, he was appointed deputy district attorney of Allegheny County by James Todd, the attorney-general, and removed to Pittsburgh. In this new sphere he faithfully and creditably discharged all its duties, and by his learning and honorable deportment advanced still higher his professional reputation. He resided in Pittsburgh for several years, but was compelled by failing health to remove to Uniontown. There he re- mained until 1862, becoming the leader of the bar, enjoying the fruits of a lucrative practice, and rising to a degree of excellence in his profession which the ambition of any man might prompt him to attain. He prepared his cases with great care, and tried them with a degree of power which few men possess.

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" His manner before a jury was not engaging, nor his voice pleasant, but the strength and directness of his logic and the cogent earnestness with which he made his pleas covered all such defects. His strong common sense and good judgment carried his case, if it could be won, and Fayette County juries attested his abilities by not often going against him. His arguments in the Supreme Court were clear, well di- gested, and forcibly presented.

" He trusted to decided cases, and was not inclined to leave the well-worn ways of the law, or distrust the security of those principles upon which are based its most sacred rights. He looked upon a reformer as a trifler with long settled questions, battering down, without the ability to crect, a portion of the temple of justice itself.

" In 1862 he returned to Pittsburgh, and again com- menced to practice, aud continued an arduous and able following of his profession until 1872. His suc- cess at the bar was rapid, and his business of a charac- ter that required great care and constant labor. He took rank as an able, reliable, and formidable lawyer, and found his reward in the confidence bestowed by a large circle of leading business men in the manage- ment of their important cases. As a counselor, he was cautious and safe, and he so thoroughly studied the facts upon which an opinion was to be given that he reached his conclusions slowly, but with a degree of mature thought that made them valuable. Although pressed with business, he found leisure, however, to in- dulge a taste he acquired early in life for studying the history of the first settlement of this country around us. No man in Western Pennsylvania has more pa- tiently and accurately collected the names of the hardy pioneers who came to the western slope of the Alleghenies, and with rifle and axe penetrated the dense forests that then lay along the Monongahela and its tributaries. Every spot memorable in the French and Indian war was known to him. He col- lected many valuable manuscripts of men like Albert Gallatin on subjects of State and national importance, gathered information from all quarters of historical value, and intended to publish them, but the work was never done.

" His contributions in pamphlet form on many sub- jects of local interest were read with great interest, and will be useful to the historian who may seek to place in durable shape what occurred at an early day in the settlement of Western Pennsylvania.

" In 1872 he retired from practice after a life spent in exacting labor, to find relief from the cares of pro- fessional duties in the happiness of a home to which he was deeply attached. In it he enjoyed the com- panionship of his friends, to whom he was warmly attached, and dispensed his hospitality with a genial nature, which made intercourse with him both pleas- ant and instructive. Up to the very hour of his death his mental faculties were unimpaired, and his spirits full of almost the fervor of his youth. He died at

his home on the Ohio below Pittsburgh, surrounded by all that was dear to him on earth."

Robert P. Flennikin was a law-student in the office of Andrew Stewart, at Uniontown, and admitted to the bar in October, 1831. He practiced his profession for a number of years in Fayette County, of which bar he became a leading member. He was also an influen- tial citizen and a prominent politician. He served three terms in the Pennsylvania Legislature, com- mencing in 1841. In 1845 he was appointed minister to Denmark by President Polk, and he was made Governor of the Territory of Utah by President Bu- chanan. In 1872 he retired from active pursuits, and removed to San Francisco, Cal., where his son Robert was a successful merchant. Another son of his is J. W. Flennikin, and Mrs. Thomas B. Searight, of Uniontown, was his only daughter. He was an uncle by marriage to the late Col. Samuel W. Black, and brother-in-law of Judge Thomas Irwin. Mr. Flenni- kin was born in Greene County, Pa., and died in San Francisco in October, 1879, aged seventy-five years.

Alfred Patterson, at one time a school-teacher in Uniontown, was admitted a member of the Fayette County bar in October, 1831, and soon secured a large and lucrative practice. Close, knotty points in law and intricate matters pertaining to land titles were his specialties. He was an easy, plausible speaker and a good and successful lawyer. About 1870 he re- moved from Uniontown to Pittsburgh, where he de- voted his time to the care of his property, and to the duties of his position as president of the Bank of Com- merce. He died in December, 1878, while on a visit to his daughter in Louisiana.

John L. Dawson was born Feb. 7, 1813, in Union- town, but removed very early in life to Brownsville, which was his place of residence during the greater part of his subsequent life. He received his educa- tion at Washington College, and soon after his grad- uation at that institution entered the office of his uncle, John Dawson, at Uniontown, as a law-student. He was admitted to the bar of Fayette in September, 1835, and at once commenced practice. He was a good attorney, but soon entered political life, and be- came much more prominent in that field than in the practice of his profession. In 1838 he was appointed deputy attorney-general of Fayette County, and in 1845 United States District Attorney for Western Pennsylvania, under President Polk. He was elected to Congress in 1850, re-elected in 1852, again elected in 1862, and re-elected in 1864. At the close of the latter term (1867) he left publie life and retired to the estate known as Friendship Hill (the former resi- dence of Albert Gallatin), where he passed the re- mainder of his life, and died Sept. 18, 1870. A more extended biographical notice of Mr. Dawson will be given in the history of Brownsville.

Thomas R. Davidson was a son of William David- son, of Connellsville. He was educated at Kenyen

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HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

College, Ohio, and soon after graduation became a law-student in the office of Robert P. Flennikin, of Uniontown. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1838. He located in Connellsville, and continued in the practice of his profession until his death, though he was also engaged extensively in other business. He was one of the prominent members of the Fayette bar, and was regarded as one of the best counselors in Western Pennsylvania. He was also an active and energetic politician, but would never accept a publie appointment, nor consent to become a candi- date for office. The date of his death has not been ascertained.

Samuel A. Gilmore was born in 1806 in Butler County, Pa., where he was admitted to the bar, and continued as a practicing lawyer until his appoint- ment as president judge of the Fourteenth Judicial District, in February, 1848, when he removed to Uniontown. Under the change of constitution he was elected to the same office in 1851, and served on the bench until the December term of 1861. He was again elected in October, 1865, and continued in office until his death, May 15, 1873. On that occasion a meeting of members of the Fayette County bar was held, at which the following resolutions were unani- mously adopted, viz. :

" Ist. That after more than twenty years' service on the bench, Judge Gilmore lays down his important trust unsuspected that it has on any occasion been violated, and leaving an excellent reputation for legal and general learning, for sterling integrity as man and judge, for strict impartiality in the discharge of his official duties, for patriotism as a citizen, as a hater of wrong and sympathizer with the weak, and as a firm believer in and an earnest promoter of the Christian religion.

"2d. That as a judge it was always his prime object to ascertain the right of any matter tried be- fore him, and having learned this, it was an inflexible rule of law indeed which could prevent him from seeing that justice and equity was done."

" Friday, Sept. 12, 1834.

"GENTLEMEN,-You have, no doubt, long been aware that the occurrence of a variety of disagree- able circumstances in the conduct of our business in court has rendered my situation often exceedingly painful and perplexing. It is possible I have had my

full share in the causes which have led to this state of things. I think, however, upon reflection, you will be satisfied that in a great degree it has been owing to the irregular manner of the bar in the trial of causes. It is unnecessary to go into particulars. It has been the subject of complaint and of conflict, dis- tressing to me and unpleasant to you. Finding a remedy hopeless without your aid, I have frequently brought my mind to the conclusion that perhaps I ought to withdraw and give you the opportunity of getting in my room some other gentleman who would have your confidence and co-operation. This deter- mination has heretofore been yielded to the advice of friends, upon whose judgment I have relied.

"Early in the present week I requested an inter- view with you, that we might talk these matters over, and perhaps agree to a united effort for reform. You were prevented from meeting as proposed. In the mean time the occurrence of a brutal attack upon me by a ruffian, growing out of a trial in court, has more and more convinced me of the necessity of coming to some conclusion that may prevent the repetition of such outrages. On this subject I wish not to be mis- understood. The act of a brute or bully can never drive me from the post of duty or of honor. I thank God that in the performance of my official functions I have been preserved from the operation of fear, as I hope I have been from the influence of favor or affection. I never, I repeat, have been deterred by any apprehension of personal danger, although I have often been aware of peril. I have known that there was cause for it. The inadvertent, but as I think indiscreet, indulgence of side-bar remarks, in- dicative of dissatisfaction with the decisions of the court, and perhaps sometimes of contempt, has been calculated to make a lodgment in the public mind inju- rious to the authority and respectability of the court, and particularly of myself as its organ, and has had a direct tendency to rouse the malignant passions of a disappointed or defeated party. I have often ob- served or been informed of these things, and have thought they might lead to disastrous consequences. A correct, judicious man, if he thinks his case has * not been correctly decided, will seek redress in the legitimate mode only, or, if that is not accessible (which seldom happens), will submit to it, as we all

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 32

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314