History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 126

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

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Philadelphia. He was afterwards major-general of the Seventh Division of the States, and continued to serve as such until his appointment to the office of presi- dent judge, in 1830. This appointment was for life,

He was also an intimate friend and correspondent of Hon. John C. Calhoun, and a friend and warm admirer of Mr. Webster. With the latter, however, he seldom agreed politically, except in his construc- tion and defense of the constitution. He was a man of sound judgment, unselfish almost to a fault and of a most tender heart. When called upon to pass the judgment of the law upon Luis Amalia Espos y Mina, whom he had tried at Doylestown for the fiendish murder by slow poison of Mr. William Chapman, he was so much affected that he had great difficulty in pronouncing the sentence of death, and it is said the whole audience were in tears. He had, however, great courage and never knew the fear of man. 1lis devotion to duty was paramount to every other con- sideration. When, by a trick intended to mortify him, he was elected constable, he promptly accepted the office and performed its duties. He stood high as a judge, and his opinion upon the negro-suffrage ques- tion, in a case argued before him in Bucks, gave him a reputation not only in the United States, but on the continent of Europe, and was cited by De Toqueville in one of his works. That opinion was published by direction of the Legislature, and was the cause of the insertion of the word "white" in the Constitution of 1838.

lle left five children,-three sons (two of them lawyers, the third a clergyman of the Presbyterian Church) and two daughters.

JUDGE THOMAS BURNSIDE was admitted to the bar of Montgomery County February 13, 1804. He soon afterwards settled in Centre County, Pa., where he rose to eminence in his profession. Regarding politics as a twin-sister of the law, he entered the State Senate in 1811, and served a term of three years with more than ordinary credit. In 1814 he was elected a member of the Fourteenth Congress, representing his district from 1815 to 1817. In 1818 he was appointed president judge of the Eleventh District, composed of the counties of Wayne, Pike and Luzerne. This position he resigned some time after, and was elected again to the Senate, oť which body he was chosen Speaker in 1825. While in the Legislature, as chairman of a committee to whom the subject had been referred, he made a report

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

and presented a bill to abolish capital punishment, which, however, failed on its passage.

' In 1841, Governor Porter appointed him president judge of the judicial district composed of Bucks and Montgomery Counties, which position he retained until January, 1845, when the same executive nomi- nated him as one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the State, which position he filled until his death.

Thomas Burnside enjoyed the confidence of the profession, and was esteemed a elear-headed judge and an upright man; his opinions were coneise, and rank among the best in the books of his day. He was neither courtly in manner nor prepossessing in appearance, but he was kind of heart, honest and confiding, with an accuracy of judgment that com- mended him to public favor.

JUDGE DAVID KRAUSE, LL. D., succeeded Judge Burnside in the year 1845. He was admitted to the bar of Pittsburgh, Pa., having studied law in the office of the Hon. Jonathan Walker, of that city. He

DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.

subsequently removed to Harrisburg and became the private secretary of Governor John Andrew Shultz, and filled the confidential office to the entire satisfac- tion of the officer. In 1829 he was appointed deputy attorney-general by Frederick Smith. lle was elected to the State Legislature in 1835. He supported the candidacy of David R. Porter in 1838, and was held in high esteem by the Governor and his friends. At the elose of his gubernatorial term the Governor appointed him president judge of the courts in the district of Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

He made his residence at Norristown, and con- tinued to reside there until his death, which occurred June 13, 1871. As a lawyer and judge, he possessed

the power of applying the well-settled principles of law to the ascertained facts of eases presented to him for counsel or adjudication. His opinions were sel- dom lengthy. Discerning the right, he passed by. technical hinderances to conclusions that were generally correct, leaving to those who differed with him the task of elaborating the process by which he reached them. The following resolution on his de- mise, adopted by the bar of Montgomery County, epitomizes his character and discloses the high esteem in which he was held by the profession :

" Resolved, That in mourning the decease of this eminent member of our profession, we desire to record our sense of the virtues which adorned his character ; that we esteemed him as a public-spirited and useful citizen ; a man of kindly and generous iopulses, ever ready to give aid in furtherance of benevolent works ; whose genial nature and amiability of character endeared him to every circle into which he entered ; and that we will ever remember him as an honest legislator, an upright judge, an able, conscientious lawyer, without guile and without reproach."

JUDGE DANIEL M. SMYSER was the first president judge elected to the position in Montgomery County. Early advantages were well improved by him, gradu- ating at the head of his elass in 1827. Ile shortly afterwards entered the law-office of Thaddeus Stevens, at Gettysburg, Pa., and was admitted to the bar of Adams County in 1831. Forming a partnership with Mr. Stevens, they continued the practice of law together until 1841, when Mr. Stevens removed to Laneaster City, leaving Mr. Smyser in the enjoyment of a large and responsible practice. In 1849 he was elected by the Whigs to the Legislature from Adams County, and while serving in the Honse was tendered the appointment of attorney-general of the State by Governor William F. Johnson. He de- clined the honor, assigning for reason " that he could not discharge the trust confided to him by his con- stituents and hold the attorney-generalship at the same time." Upon his return from the Legislature he was nominated for Congress by the Whig party in the district composed of Adams and York Counties. Although a strong Democratie district, he was de- feated by a small majority (393 votes). In 1851 he was nominated by the Whigs of the Seventh Judicial District (Bueks and Montgomery Counties), and owing to divisions in the opposite party, he was elected over the two candidates running against him. He brought with him to the field of judicial labor the learning and experience of a well-trained lawyer and a love of research and industry that rendered his adjudications among the most remarkable of the period in which he presided over the several courts of this district. His opinions stated premises, care- fully elaborated reasons for conclusions reached and exhausted the line of authorities sustaining them. His reputation as a judge extended beyond the dis- trict in which he presided, and in 1854 he was nomi- nated by the Whig party for justice of the Supreme Court of the State. He was not elected, and hence served out the full two years of his term, after which he resumed the practice of law for a subsequent

541

THE BENCH AND BAR.

period of thirteen years in the courts over which he had presided. He died January 11, 1873, while on a visit to his early home at Gettysburg, where at the time the following deserved tribnte of respect was paid to his memory by the bench and bar of Adams County :

" Judge Smyser brought to the practice of the law a mind cultured by the highest academic learning, enriched by a broad range of classical reading enjoyed by but few of his contemporaries. A close, laborious student, with an ardent devotion to the profession he selected, he early rose to distinction at the bar and commanded a large and lucrative practice. After twenty years of active connection with the legal profession here, he was called to the responsible position of president judge of the Seventh Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and in this new sphere he exempli- fied the virtues which had characterized him as a lawyer by a conscien- tious and painstaking care in the trial of cases, a personal integrity which elevated his official action above all suspicion, and a judicial learning which adorned the beuch."

Judge Smyser was thoroughly devoted to the best interests of the country, and promptly gave the weight of his official character to the Union cause in 1861, and was chosen to deliver the address to the first volunteers that left the county upon the fall of Sumter.

JUDGE HENRY CHAPMAN .- Henry Chapman was born at Newtown, Bucks Co., Pa., about the be- ginning of the present century. His father was Abraham Chapman, a lawyer, who entered upon his professional duties in 1790, and for many years was the " father of the Bucks County bar." Henry was educated in the public schools of Bucks County, and finished his studies at an academy in Burlington, N. J. He was admitted to the bar of Bucks County in 1825. He served in the State Senate in 1843, and was elected to Congress in 1856. 1łe, with Hickman, Haskins and Montgomery, was an active oppouent of the " Lecompton Swindle," and became prominent in the debates of that turbulent period. He was elected judge of the Seventh Judicial District in 1860, and served as president judge until 1870, when he retired to private life, and is now residing in the borough of Doylestown, Pa.

The following epitome of his professional charac- teristics is from the pen of Hon. Charles Hunsicker, who was in full practice during his administration in this county: "It is nothing derogatory to the pred- ecessor or successors of Judge Chapman to say that he was a model judge. Ile was clear-headed, even- tempered, dignified, learned, pure, and his decisions always challenged the respect and confidence of both sides. His learning was extensive, his conversational powers great, and he could have filled honorably and acceptably any position in civil or political life. His modesty was characteristic of the man, and his extreme sensitiveness of the sanctity of his judicial office was so pronounced that he not only refused to accept a free pass on the railroad, but would not even ride out in the private carriage of any member of the bar. He may have carried this to an extreme, but if an error, it was an error in the right direction. Henry Chapman was and is a man of whom it can well be said he is sans peur et sans reproche."

JUDGE HENRY P. Ross, A. B .- The subject of this sketch was admitted to the bar of Bucks County December 16, 1859. He enjoyed the advantages of careful home training, and was prepared for a liberal course of study at Princeton College, where he grad- nated in 1857, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He immediately entered the law-office of his father, Hon. Thomas Ross, an eminent lawyer of Doylestown, Pa., and two years later, having complied with the requirements under the rules of court governing the admission of students to the bar, he entered upon the active practice of his pro- fession. His rapid advance to eminence in the trial of cases in both eivil and criminal courts and in the Supreme Court of the State, his early and creditable service as district attorney for the county of Bucks, created no surprise upon the part of his friends ; it was expected. He was exhaustive in his preparation, fertile in thought, logical in his couclusions, always clear and forcible, aud sometimes eloquent in the pre- sentation of his case to court and jury. His exami- nation of witnesses was direct and to the point, without austerity of manner. He was affable and genial with his fellow-members of the bar, and always deferential in his address to the court. His elevation to the judi- cial office was the natural result of his prominence as a lawyer. It was a selection of the fittest among the many senior and justly distinguished members of the profession, who frankly conceded to him the qualifications essential to the judicial character. We are by no means certain that his ambition was truly gratified by his promotion to the bench. The con- servative character of the office was believed to be repressive of his desire to participate in the wider and more aggressive fields of public life, for which he always evinced a fondness. His relinquishment of the office of attorney, with possibilities for distinction and its freedom from responsibilities as contrasted with the grave duties of a judge, was frequently spoken of by him, and at times with apparent regret. Hehad a keen sense of the power and dignity of the ju- dicial office, and on occasions of great public interest, in trials before him, in the presence of a large attending bar and a court-room filled with men wrought upon by the history of crime and the elo- quent efforts of counsel, he would preside over the scene with a self-possession and judicial manner that com- manded the respectful attention of everybody present. From the first case of homicide to the last tried before him in his administration of public justice in Montgomery County it is due to say that the climax of interest was always reached when he charged the jury. Few, if any, of living members of the bar will fail to recall the trials of the Commonwealth vs. Huston,1 Curley, Pastorius, Whalen and Sutton, in all

1 In the Commonwealth vs. Rose Huston, charged with the murder of her own child, the case turned upon the testimony of medical experts. The public interest in the conflict of testimony was intensified by the fact that Dr. Margaret Richardson was among the physicians examined,

542

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

of which the lives of the accused were at stake. and 1869, and at the adjournment of the latter session, was elected Speaker and re-elected at the opening of Public interest naturally centred in the court-room day after day, until finally, counsel having made their : the session of 1870. He exercised the functions of last appeal in the interest of alleged innocence on the one hand and for the cause of the commonwealth on the other, truth having been tortured and obscured by conflicting evidence, there came the memorable court scenes, the perfect pose of the judge as he turned from the presence of the bar to face the jury, the | characteristic, calm, impartial and unimpassioned charge to the sworn men, whose duty, whether painful or pleasant, was fearlessly disclosed to and conscien- tiously impressed upon them.

Judge Ross came to the bench young in years, hopeful and ambitions, surrounded by many admiring friends, who believed him capable of leadership in the politics of the State. They had followed him devotedly through two discouraging canvasses for Congressional honors and later through a spirited canvass for a seat in the Supreme Court of the com- monwealth, and finally re-elected him president judge of Montgomery County by a majority that em- phasized his popularity at his home, where he was best known, and where his judicial services were best appreciated. He was re-elected in 1881 for the term of ten years. He died April 13, 1882. His remains are buried in the cemetery at Doylestown, Pa.

JUDGE CHARLES HENDERSON STINSON was born in I Norriton township, Montgomery Co., June 28, 1825. He is of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, Robert Hle is active, publie-spirited and diligent in the Stinson, was a prominent and exeellent man; he pursuit of his profession, and has been instrumental in the passage of many beneficial local measures.

served as a justice of the peace for many years in Norriton township, and was a member of the Legisla- IlON. B. MARKLEY BOYER, now president judge of the Thirty-eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, is a native of Montgomery County, born in New IIano- ver township on the 22d of January, 1822. He was educated at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., and in the University of Pennsylvania, at which last named in- stitution he was graduated in the class of 1841. He studied law under the instruction of Judge John M. Reed, of Carlisle, Pa., where he was admitted to the bar. In 1844 he commenced the practice of law in his native county, locating at Norristown. From 1848 to 1850 he was deputy attorney-general of Mont- gomery County, an office corresponding to that of district attorney at the present time. In politics he was a Whig until that party ceased to exist, when he allied himself with the Democracy. In the Presi- dential contest of 1856 he cast his vote for James Buchanan. In 1860 he supported Stephen A. Doug- las for the Presidency, and ably advocated his elec- tion in a campaign paper which he assisted to estab- ture on the Anti- Masonic ticket in 1835. His mother was Elizabeth Porter, daughter of Stephen Porter, and niece of General Andrew Porter, of the same township. After preparing in the ordinary schools, he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, where he graduated in 1845. Having traveled for a year over the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania for the bene- fit of his health, he commenced the study of the law with his brother, George W. Stinson, of Norristown, Pa., and remained in his office until the death of his brother. in 1848, when he pursued his studies under the direction of Addison May. He was admitted to the bar on May 22, 1849, and has since been engaged in prac- tice at Norristown. He served as a private in the Gettysburg campaign in 1863, and was an ardent supporter of the Union cause throughout the war of the Rebellion. He refused the nomination of the Republican party of Montgomery, Chester and Dela- ware Counties for the State Senate in 1864, but in 1867 was induced to accept it, and was elected for | lish and edit for that purpose. In the dangerous three years as a colleague of Dr. Worthington, of West Chester. He served on the general judiciary committee and on other important committees in 1868

and the first physician of her sex subjected to the ordeal in the history of judicial proceedings in Montgomery County.

that office with dignity and general acceptance, leaving a worthy record of a brief political career. He declined the position of additional law judge of the courts of Bucks and Montgomery Counties, tendered him by Governor John W. Geary in 1871. He was one of the originators of the First National Bank of Norris- town, for which he has acted as solicitor. In 1879 the county commissioners of Montgomery County appointed him one of the trustees of the Hospital for the Insane for the Southeastern District of Pennsyl- vania, which position he still holds. In the organiza- tion of the hospital he was instrumental in placing the female physician on the same plane with the male physician, giving to each control over their respective departments, this being the first departure from the old hospital management in this country. In April, 1882, Governor Hoyt appointed him president judge of the Thirty-Eighth Judicial District, to fill the va- caney occasioned by the death of the Hon. Henry P. Ross, in which position he distinguished himself by his urbanity and the prompt and impartial manner in which he discharged the business of the courts till the following January. He was the unanimous nominee of the Republican party for the office in the fall of 1882, but the party being in minority in the county, he was not elected.

times that immediately followed the election of Abraham Lincoln he stood firmly for conciliatory measures, until the firing on Fort Sumter rendered conciliation impossible ; but after the actual opening of the great conflict he was unwavering in advocacy ,of the suppression of the Rebellion by the military

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

power of the government. Twice during the war, cise of these high qualifications, secured verdicts which, when the Confederate army crossed the Potomac and as an expounder of the law, he may be com- : pelled to reverse, as was the attorney-general of Pennsylvania recently in a celebrated case. minved northward to the Pennsylvania border, he raised a company of volunteers for the emergency, and as their captain marched with them to the field to assist in repelling the invasion. In one of these campaigns the exposure and hardship to which he wassubjected brought on an illness which nearly proved fatal.

In 1864, Mr. Boyer was elected to Congress, and was re-elected in 1866, serving in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, until and including the year 1869. During his two Congressional terms he served on the committee on military affairs, of which the chairman was James A. Garfield. He also served on several select committees, one of the most important of which was that sent by Congress to New Orleans to investigate the origin and causes of the riots in that city. On that subject he made the minority report, which, in fact, prevailed, as the bill introduced on the majority report was lost in the Senate. In the Dem- ocratic National Convention of 1868 he was a delegate from his Congressional district, and in the National Convention of the party in 1872 he was a delegate- at-large from Pennsylvania.

In 1876, Mr. Boyer was appointed by Governor Hartranft a member of the State Municipal Com- mission, provided for by the Legislature to devise and report on some better system than was then in exist- ence in this State for the government of cities. The commission reported at length, submitting the draft of a bill which, in its application to cities of the first class, embodied the substance of the bill pending (and undisposed of) in the last Legislature.

For nearly forty years Mr. Boyer remained in con- tinuous practice as an attorney and counselor, being widely and favorably known, and occupying for many years a leading position among the members of the bar of Montgomery County. His briefs were always exhaustive. There was no case that escaped his ob- servation and analysis, which being used with con- suminate skill and judgment, he seldom failed to make his point. Through all his professional career, and especially in his connection with leading civil and criminal cases, his skill and success were remarkable in the difficult and responsible task of examining wit- nesses, a work in which he uniformly acquitted him- self to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. He ex- hibited the peculiar ability of obtaining from the wit- nesses, however unwilling, the pertinent facts within their knowledge, without eliciting that which was ir- relevant or immaterial. He was diligent in the dis- charge of all his duties to his client, whose cause he made his own on assuming the care of it, and always used all honorable means to secure the full benefit of the most favorable construction of the law upon his case. Being a man of great forensic ability, rare oratorical powers and in- defatigable industry, he sometimes, by the exer-

In 1882 the Hon. B. M. Boyer was elected to the office which he still holds,-that of president judge ofthe Thirty-eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, composed of the county of Montgomery. In that high office he has proved himself the possessor of superior judicial ability. Ilis knowledge of cases and his con- s ientious work as a lawyer, together with his great learning, have eminently fitted him for the bench. Ilis decisions indicate a profound knowledge of his profession, and evince the same wise judgment that was characteristic of him as a barrister. Especially on matters of evidence his rulings are regarded as unexceptionable, and are seldom seriously questioned by the bar. He has a clear head, an honest, kind heart ; he is courageous in his convictions, and will perform his duties under all circumstances. His sym_ pathies are with the poor and defenseless, who may always freely approach him, assured of his kindness, attention and honest advice. His long and varied experience in almost every condition of life has emi- nently fitted him to be what he is,-a wise, humane and just judge.

DEPUTY ATTORNEY-GENERALS APPOINTED IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY PRIOR TO 1850.

There is no record of the appointment of deputy attorney-generals to be found in the dockets of the courts in the office of the attorney - general at Harrisburg, Pa. It has been ascertained that the following gentlemen held the office by appointment prior to 1850, when it became elective :

John 11. Sheetz, Esq.,1 appointed by Philip S. Markley, attorney- general, 1829.

David II. Mulvany, Es 1.,2 appointed by William B. Kred, attorney- general, Isiti,

G. R. Fox, EMj.,& appointed by Ovid F. Johnson, attorney-general,

John II. Hobart, Esq.,4 appointed by John 31. Kane, attorney- general, 1845.

B Markley Boyer, Ery., 3 appointed by James Cooper, attorney- general, INs.

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS. (Office made elective by act of May 3, 1850. )

Benjamin E. Chain, elected October, Ist.

John II. Hobart, elected October, 1853.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 126

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