History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 125

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 125

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Jared Ingersoll having declined the appointment, Mr. Tilghman was afterwards nominated in his place. The term " Midnight Judges " arose from a story that the names of some of them were confirmed just before midnight, 1801, when Mr. Adams' term expired. The act was repealed the following year.

1 Ehzabeth Shannon, grandchild of the proprietor named, now residing at Norristown, is the editor's anthority.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

and a vacancy occurring in the office of chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania the following year, he was commissioned to fill that office, which he held for a period of twenty-one years, or until his death, which occurred on the 30th of April, 1827.

The long administration of Chief Justice Tilghman, and the remarkable ability, industry and pleasing character of the man, have always been spoken of in the most flattering terms by those associated with him. Horace Binney, Esq., in his eulogium, says : " It was reserved for Judge Tilghman, with the aid of able and enlightened colleagues, to carry into effect the plan which the genius of his great predecessor (Judge Shippen) had conceived. His philosophical mind perceived at once how equity could be combined with law, how two systems apparently discordant could be amalgamated into one homogeneous whole. He found in the common law itself principles anal- ogous to those which courts of equity enforce,-prin- ciples too long obseured by the unmeaning distinctions and frivolous niceties of scholastie men. Ile wiped off the dust from the diamond and restored it to its primitive splendor ; and though he did not entirely complete that immense work, which stifl wants the aid of wise legislators and liberal judges, he brought it to that degree of perfection which defies all attempts to destroy it in future, and Pennsylvania boasts of a code of laws which her ordinary courts may safely administer without the fear of doing injustice and without needing to be checked by an extraordinary tribunal professing a different system of jurispru- dence. With the same enlightened and philosophical spirit, Judge Tilghman always gave a fair and liberal construction to the statutes which the Legislature made from time to time for the amendment of the law and simplifying the forms of procedure, which, however they might be suited to the meridian of Eng- land, were not well calculated for this country. If those statutes were not always drawn with the requisite skill, he would supply it by their spirit, and would, as much as indeed he could, carry into effect the intentions of the legislator. Thus, by his interpreta- tion of the statutes called of Jeofail, our practice is now free from those technical entanglements by which justice was too often caught, as it were, in a net, and the merits of a cause made to yield to formal niceties, while chicane rejoiced at the triumph of iniquity. Chief Justice Tilghman could have done as much with this by the force of his authority as any judge that ever sat in his seat. His investigations were known to be so faithful, his reasonings so just and his convictions so impartial that there would have been a ready acceptance of his conclusions without a knowledge of the steps that led to them. Ile asked, however, for submission to no authority so rarely as to his own. You may search his opinions in vain for anything like personal assertion. He never threw the weight of his office into the scale which the weight of his argument did not turn. He spoke

and wrote as the minister of 'reason, claiming obe- dienee to her and selecting with scrupulous modesty such language as, while it sustained the dignity of his office, kept down from the relief, in which he might well have appeared, the individual who filled it. Look over the judgments of more than twenty years, many of them rendered by this excellent mag- istrate after his title to unlimited deference was estab- lished by a right more divine than king's. There is not to be found one arrogant, one supercilions ex- pression turned against the opinions of other judges, one vainglorious regard toward himself. He does not write as if it occurred to him that his writings would be examined to fix his measure when compared with his standard of great men, but as if their exclu- sive use was to assist in fixing a standard of the law." The praise which is given of Chief Justice Tilghman's compassion for those tried for criminal offenses is one of the noblest panegyries to be found. "He conkl not but pronounce the sentence of the law upon such as were condemned to hear it, but the calmness, the dignity, the impartiality with which he ordered their trials, the attention which he gave to such as involved life, and the touching manner of his last office to the convicted demonstrated his sense of the peculiar responsibility which belonged to this part of his functions. In civil controversies (such excepted as, by some feature of injustice, demanded a notice of the parties) he reduced the issue freely, much to an abstract form, and solved it as if it had been an algebraic problem. But in criminal cases there was a constant reference to the wretched persons whose fate was suspended before him, and in the very celerity with which he endeavored to dispose of the accusation he evinced his sympathy. It was his invariable effort, without regard to his own health, to finish a capital case at one sitting if any portion of the night woukl suffice for the object, and one of his declared notions was to terminate as soon as possible that harrowing solicitude (worse even than theworst certainty) which a pro- tracted trial brings to the unhappy prisoner. He never pronounced the sentence of death without severe pain,-in the first instance it was the occasion of anguish ; in this, as in many other points, he bore a strong resemblance to Sir Matthew Hale. His awful reverence of the Great Judge of all mankind, and the humility with which he habitually walked in that presence, made him uplift the sword of justice as if it scarcely belonged to man, himself a suppliant, to let it fall on the neck of his fellow-man."

The closing events of the life of this truly great man render his memory dear, not only to the profes- sion, but to all good people. Before his death he emancipated all his slaves. His offices of usefulness extended beyond the limits of the legal profession. He was for many years a member of the American Philosophical Society, and became president of the society in 1824. He was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, the first president of the Athenaeum

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

and a warden of the United Churches. On his last birthday he wrote the following summarized reflec- tions upon the conscious sunset of life: "This day completes my seventieth year, the period which is said to bound the life of man. My constitution is impaired, but I cannot sufficiently thank God that my intelleets are sound, that I am afflicted with no painful disease, and that sufficient health remains to make life comfortable. I pray for the grace of the Almighty to enable me to walk, during the short remainder of life, in His ways. Without Hlis aid I am sensible that my efforts are unavailing. May I submit with gratitude to all His dispensations, never forget that He is the witness of my actions and even of my thoughts, and endeavor to honor, love and obey Him with all my heart, soul and strength."

Montgomery in Circuit Districts .- By act of April 13, 1791 ("Smith's Laws," vol. iii. p. 28), the State was divided into five districts or circuits, the first of which was to consist of the city and county of Philadelphia and the counties of Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware.

Section third of the same act provides that in each of said circuits a "person of knowledge and integrity, skilled in the laws,1 shall be appointed and commis- sioned by the Governor to be president and judge of the Courts of Common Pleas within such circuit ; and that a number of other proper persons, not fewer than three nor more than four, shall be appointed and commissioned judges of the Courts of Common Pleas in and for each and every of the counties of this commonwealth."

Prior to the division of the State into the circuits named, and the appointment of president judges therefor. the judges of the Supreme Court presided in the several courts in the trial of all capital cases (see act of May 22, 1722, "Smith's Laws," vol. i. p. 141).

Montgomery in Judicial Districts .- By the act of September 10, 1784, creating the county, it is pro- vided "that the justices of the Supreme Court of this State shall have like powers, jurisdictions and authorities within said county of Montgomery as in the other counties within this State, and are authorized and empowered from time to time to deliver the gaol of said county of capital or other offenders in like manner as they are authorized to do in other counties of the State."

By act of February 24, 1806 (P. L., p. 338), Dela- ware, Chester, Bucks and Montgomery Counties were constituted the Seventh Judicial District in the State.

By act of March 12, 1821 (P. L., p. 85), Delaware and Chester Counties were constituted the Fifteenth Judicial District, leaving Bucks and Montgomery Counties to constitute the Seventh Judicial District in the State.

By act of April 9, 1874 (P. L., p. 55), Montgomery

1 This is believed to be the first statute in Pennsylvania requiring judges to be learned in the law as a necessary qualification to perform the duties of that office.

County was constituted the Thirty-eighth Judicial District in the State.

PRESIDENT JUDGES.

Frederick A. Muhlenberg. presided from 1784 to 1785.

James Morris, from 1785 to 1789.

James Biddle,2 from 1791 to 1797.

John D. Coxe, from 1797 to 1805.

William Tilghman, from 1×05 to 1806.

Bird Wilson, from 1806 to 1818.

John Ross, from 1818 to 1830.

Jolin Fox, from 1830 to 184).

Thomas Burnside, from 1841 to 1845.

David Krause, from 1845 to Il.

Daniel M. Smyser, from 1851. elected under the amendment to the Constitution of 1838.

Henry Chapuan, from 1862 to 1872.

Henry I'. Ross, from 1872 to 1882.

llenry P. Russ, re-elected, served from 1882.

Charles H. stinson, appointed April 17, 1882, rice Judge Henry P. Ross, deceasedl.

B. Markley Boyer, elected first Tuesday in November, 1882, to serve ten years.

ADDITIONAL LAW JUDGES.

Henry P. Ross, elected 1869.

Arthur G. Olmstead, appointed 1871, rire Henry P. Ross, elected presi- dent judge.

L. Stoke- Roberts, elected 1872.

Richard Watson, appointed January 18, 1873, rice L. Stukes Roberts, resigned.

ASSOCIATE JUDGES.

John Richards, appointed November 1, 1784, by J. Dickinson. James Morris, appointed September 29, 1784, by James Ewing. Thomas Craig, appointed September 10, 1784, by J. Dickinson.

Henry Scheetz, appointel December 10, 1784, by James Ewing. Peter Evans, appointed December 17, 1784, by James Ervine. James Morris, appointed July 26, 1785, by J. Dickinson.

Christian Weber, appointed November 7, 1786, by Charles Biddle. Charles Baird, appointed February 15, 1787, by Charles Biddle.

Jonathan Shoemaker, appointed September 25, 1787, by Charles Bidelle.

John Jones, appointed November 15, 1787, by Benjamin Franklin. Henry Pauling, appointed Jannary 20, 1789, by George Ross. Anthony Crothers, appointed February 7, 1789, by Thomas Mifflin. Robert Loller, appointed September 25, 1789, by Thomas Mifflin.

The abuve were appointed by the president of the Executive Council. In 1790, by alteration of the constitution, the appointing power having been vested in the Governor, the following were thus appointed :

Samuel Potts, nppointed August 17, 1791, by Thomas Mifflin. Benjamin Rittenhouse, appointed August 17, 1791, by Thomas Mifflin. Robert Loller, appointed Angust 17, 17DI, by Thomas Mifflin. Benjamin Markley, appointed Angust 17, 1791, by Thomas Mifflin. John Jones, appointed July 16, 1793, by Thomas Mifflin. Richard B. Jones, appointed August 30, 1822, by Joseph Heister. Thomas Lowry, appointed January 8, 1824, by J. A. Shultz. Joseph Royer, appointed May 10, 1837, by Joseph Ritner. Morris Longstreth, appointed March 15, 1>41, by David R. Porter. Josiah W. Evans, appointed AApril 14, 1843, by David R. Porter. Ephraim Fenton, appointed February 15, 1848, by Francis R. Shunk. Josiah W. Evans, appointed April 14, 1848, by Francis R. Shunk. Joseph Hunsicker, appointed April 6, 1>49, by William F. Johnson.

Henry Longaker and Josiah W. Evans were elected by the people un- der the amendment of the constitution in October, 1831, receiving their connuissions on the 16th of November of that year.

Nathaniel Jacoby, elected October 9, 1855.

llenry Longaker, elected October 14, 1836. Nathaniel Jaroby, elected October 9, 1860). John Dismant, elected October 8, 1961. ITiram C. Hoover, elected October 10, 1865.

Jolen Dismant, elected October 9, 1866.

Hiram C. Hoover, elected October 11, 1870.

Isaac F. Yost, elected October 10, 18;1. Othice abolished by Constitution of 1874.

2 James Biddle, John D. Coxe and William Tilghman appear as presi- dent judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia for the same date as in Montgomery County.

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The office of associate judge was abolished by the Constitution of 1874, those in office holding over until the expiration of the term for which they were elected.

EXTRACT OF MINUTE OF COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, NOVEM- BER ADJOURNED COURT, 1876.

"And now, Friday, November 10, 1876. The Court being about to adjourn without day, and it being the end of the term of the IIon. Isaac F. Yost, the last Associate Judge of the Courts of Montgomery County under the Constitution of 1838, Ross, P. J., said that he felt it due that he should make public acknowledgment of his belief in the pertect integrity, purity and honesty of his retiring associate ; that during the entire course of his judicial term, Judge Yost had been animated by a desire to do his duty, and that he carried with him into private life the regard of the bench, the respect of the bar and the confidence of the en- tire community. More could be said of none of his predecessors and less could not be said of him.

" The Ilon. B. M. Boyer, in behalf of the bar, responded by saying that the court had uttered what the bar felt and what the public believed ; that in declaring that Judge Yost had been an upright, honest and pure magistrate he only echoed the general expression of every lawyer and the paldic ; and that he gladly seized this opportunity to speak for himself and brethren and to assure Judge Yost that he had acquired, maintained and would take with him the estcem and respect of the bar and people of Montgomery County.

"Colonel Theo. W. Bean said, ' Your honor has referred with appropri- ateness to an event which renders the closing proceedings of this court of more than usual public interest. For almost a century the president judges of this judicial district have Iwen aided in the performance of their official duties by associates, the last of whom, in the person of the Hon. Isaac F. Yost, retires with the expiration of the term for which he was elected five years ago, and the office ceases to exist. Changes in the formis of organic law, as it applies to the administration of public justice, have been frequent and important in this commonwealth. In 1784, when this county was established, four Justices of the Peace were appointed by the Supreme Executive Council to hold the courts, none of whom were learned in the law. Subsequently the Governor was anthorized to ap- point all president judges, the incumbents holding the position for life, and later the office became elective, and now the duties of the lay or as- sociate are added to those of the President Judge, who must be learned in the law. While we do not question the wisdom of the change which makes oue public office less, we sincerely regret to part with an official whose integrity and uniform courtesy and impartiality has won for him the just esteem of his professional associates and the good people he has Berved.'

" Eo-die, the Court directed that the proceedings be spread upon the minutes."

JUDGE BIRD WILSON, D.D., LL. D., was born at Carlisle, Pa., on the 8th day of January, 1777, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1792, at the age of fifteen years. He was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia in 1797, in his twentieth year. He was eminently fitted for publie life, but never permitted his official duties to interfere with his con- tinnous studies, which he pursued all through his remarkable life. He was an accomplished lawyer, a humane and learned judge, passing to realms of new, if not higher, thought as years and new honors crowded upon him. His biographer' thus speaks of him:

" For a time he held a position of trust in the office of the commissioner of the bankrupt law, his next appointment being president judge, in 180G, of the Court of Common Pleas in the Seventh Circuit, comprising the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware, in which he Succeeded Win. Tilghman. As soon as he had entered on the duties of This office he made Norristown his residence, and thus became one of the most active workers in the buihling of St. John's Episcopal Church, which was commenced in 1x13 and finished the following year, being the first house of worship erected there, of which he was one of the wardens.

At this time he also edited an edition of the 'Abridgement of the Law,' published in Philadelphia in seven octavo volmes. In speaking of this work, Judge Story says that he 'has enriched it with many valuable ad- ditions.' A murder was committed near the present town of Media, in which a young man of very respectable family connections was impli- cated, and who was arraigned before him October 20, 1817, which resulted in his conviction in the first degree. But the judge was unwilling to sen- tence him. After several postponements he finally concluded to resign the position, Judge Ross taking his place April 13, 18IS, and the cou- demned received his sentence from the latter. 2

" Judge Wilson now devoted himself to the mimstry, and stinlied nu- der Bishop White, by whom he was admitted a deacon in March, Is19, and soon after chosen rector of St. John's Episcopal Church at Norris- town and the charge of St. Thomas' Church, at Whitemarsh, which he hell till, in the summer of 1821, having been appointed a professor of systematic divinity in the General Theological Seminary at New York, he removed there. In 1850 he became emeritus professor of the sanne, which position he filled till near the close of his life. In 1829 he was elected secretary of the House of Bishops, in which capacity he continued until 1841, when he declined re-election. Ilis ' Memoir of the Life o Bishop White ' was published in 1839, which contains also the early his- tury of the Episcopal Church in this country. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1821, and of LL.D. by Columbia College in 1845. He died April 14, 1859, aged eighty- three years, and was buried in the ground belonging to Christ Church, at the corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia."

JUDGE JOHN Ross,-John Ross was the son of Thomas Ross, the first noted ancestor of the family, and who was an approved preacher among the Friends in Bucks County. John was born in Sole- bury township in 1770. Receiving a fair education and reaching full manhood, he entered the law-office of his cousin, Thomas Ross, then located at West Chester, Chester ('o., Pa. Having finished his studies, he shortly afterwards located in Northampton County, Pa., where he soon acquired an extensive practice, and took an active part in local and general politics.

He was elected to Congress in the district composed of Northampton, Bucks, Lehigh, Wayne and Pike Counties, and while serving in this office in the year 1718 was appointed, by Governor Findlay, president judge of the judicial distriet then composed of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties, to sur- ceed Judge Bird Wilson, resigned. The Village Rec- ord, in commenting upon the appointment at the time, says,-

" Mr. Ross has been for the last fifteen years in extensive practice in Northampton and neighboring counties ; he is a learned and able- lawyer. As an advocate, he neither aims at pathos nor goes out of his way to round out a period, but he always opens his canse in a clear manner, presents the strong points Incidly to view, and enforces his arguments with perspicuity, often with eloquence."

"Mr. Ross is a man of active mind and decided character. In refer- ring to his politics, we mean only to gratify the natural curiosity of our readers, who, when a new officer is appointed, wish to know all about him, and not to intimate that his politics will influence him on the bench ; there, we are confident, he will be known neither as a Federal- ist nor Democrat, but as an independent judge, doing his duty without fear, favor or affection."

Judge Ross seems to have served with great eredit, and was in 1830, after twelve years'service, appointed

" This was Jolin Il. Craige, a dissipated blacksmith, who shot his neigh- bor, Edward Hunter, Esq, who had been instrumental in writing his father-jo-law's will, thereby disinheriting him, and thus inenrred his etunity. ('raige shot him as he was standing in his stable, and was hanged for it at Chester, June 6, 1818. His confession was one of the first pamphlets the author read in his youth.

1 Wm. J. Buck. in Ange's " Men of Montgomery County."

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

by Governor Wolf to a seat in the Supreme Court of | mounted his horse and rode off to join the army, then the State; in this office he served until the time of daily expecting an attempt by the enemy to capture his death, which occurred in 1834. Judge John Ross was the grandfather of the late Henry P. Ross, president judge of Montgomery County.

JUDGE JOHN FOX, president judge of the Seventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania, then composed of | but he was legislated out of office by the adoption of the Constitution of 1838, which made the judicial office clective. He was a life-long Democrat, and during General Jackson's Presidency was the inti- mate friend and confidential adviser of Hon. Samuel D). Ingham, then Secretary of the Treasury, especially during the exciting and dangerous troubles which arose about the so-called Kitchen Cabinet.

the counties of Bucks and Montgomery, was born at Philadelphia in the year 1787. His father, Edward Fox, born at Dublin, Ireland, but of English parents. emigrated to this country in the twentieth year of his age. During the term of JJoseph Reed, President of Pennsylvania, he was auditor-general of the State. In the year 1783, General Carleton, writing to his government (as appears by the secret archives in the Tower of London, recently allowed to be examined), spoke of him as one of the Cabinet, stating that he was a native of England or Ireland (he believed of the former); that he had carried on business in the mercan- tile line ; that he had been appointed auditor-general since Mr. Morris came into the administration; and that he was a "young man of good abilities, especially in his present line." He resumed the mercantile busi- ness, in which he acquired a large fortune, but was ruined by loans to the same Mr. Morris, "the financier of the Revolution," as he was afterwards styled. Edward Fox married Elizabeth Sergeant, sister of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant and an aunt of John and Thomas Sergeant, both distinguished lawyers, and the latter a judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. John Fox, the subject of this sketch, was graduated at the University of Pennsyl- vania, of which his father was for many years the treasurer. He studied law with Alexander James Dallas, the compiler of " Dallas' Reports " and after- wards Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. George M. Dallas, subsequently United States Sena- tor and Vice-President of the United States, was a fellow-student and life-long friend. Soon after his admission to the bar Mr. Fox was advised by his physician to settle in the country, and in consequence removed to Bristol, then the county-seat of Bucks County. The county-seat having been removed to Newtown, he went there, and it having again been removed and finally established at Doylestown, he took up his residence there, and that remained his home until his decease, in April, 1849. In 1816 he married Margery, daughter of Gilbert Rodman, a retired Philadelphia merchant, who then resided at his country-seat, Edington, near Bristol, in Bucks.

In 1814, Mr. Fox was deputy attorney-general for Bucks County. He was appointed major, and served on General Worrall's staff in the war of 1812. When called upon by his chief to go to the seat of war, the court being in session, the judge then on the bench refused to allow him to leave or to adjourn the court, . whereupon the young prosecuting attorney imme- diately declared that all the commonwealth's cases were continued, had the entry made upon the record,

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 125

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534