History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 18

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454

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Coroners .- Although this office is one of more importance than it generally received credit for in earlier years, its value is now fully appreciated. In case of accident, death, or any calamity which may befall the sheriff, the coroner takes charge of the office and conducts the business thereof until the next regular election. And, like the sheriff, he is chosen for a period of three years. Thus far no coroner of Tioga county has succeeded to the shrievalty. Owing to carelessness on the part of those whose duty is was to keep the earlier records, some difficulty has been ex- perienced in compiling a complete list. And in many instances a justice of the peace in districts remote from the residence of the coroner held inquests when necessity required it, and the meagre reference to the matter on the records has caused confusion, and it has been found difficult to determine who the real officer was. Then, again, during a period of fully ten years, no nomination for this office was made, consequently a blank appears. The following is believed to be as com- plete a list of the coroners as it is possible to compile:

The first coroner of the county was Lyman Adams, appointed by Governor Snyder, May 6, 1814. His successors were: Nathaniel Seely, 181 :: John Beecher, 1820; John Gray, 1825; Henry W. Stoddard, 1831; Peter Backer, 1834; Joel Culver, 1832; Edwin Dyer, acting, 1841; Jefferson Shuman, 1841; Josiah N. Wright, 1812: John S. Warner, 1847-52; John C. Bennett. 1852-53; Joel Rose, 1853 to 1864; D. S. Peters, 1864; E. J. Bosworth, 186 ;: H. H. Borden, 1869: Dr. A. J. Hleggie, 1870; Giles Roberts, 1824; Dr. A. J. Hleggie, 1>;8-83; W. R. Francis, 1884-89; Augustus Niles, 1890-95, and Charles W. Hazlett, the present incumbent, elected in 1895.

County Surveyors .- At first the title of the occupant of this office was deputy surveyor, and he was appointed by the surveyor general until 1850, when. by act of the legislature, the office was made elective. The following have served both as deputy and county surveyors:

Jolin Norris, February 9. 1814; re-appointed, June 4. 1824; Samuel MeDougall, 1827-36; E. P. Deane, 1836; Samuel MeDougall, 1839-50; David Heise, 1850-56:

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

H. S. Archer, 1856-59; E. P. Deane, 1859-62; William Garretson, 1862-65; David Heise, was elected in 1865 and appears to have served until 1872, when he was suc- ceeded by H. S. Archer, who held the office until his death in 1889. In November, 1893, John T. Purvis was elected. The office is at present practically vacant.

County Superintendents .- The act of May 8, 1854, authorized the election of .a superintendent of common schools in each county of the Commonwealth. It was carefully framed by H. L. Dieffenbach, then chief clerk in the office of the state superintendent, with the view of bettering the condition of the schools. In some ·counties it met with strong opposition, it being regarded as a useless appendage to the educational machinery of the State, but time has vindicated the wisdom of its framers, as the law has proved advantageous in promoting the efficiency of the schools. The county superintendent serves for a term of three years, and is elected by the directors meeting in convention the first Monday in May at the county seat. They also fix the salary at the same time. The incumbents of this office have been elcted as follows:

Rev. J. F. Calkins, 1854; Newell L. Reynolds, 1857; Hiram C. Johns, 1860; Victor A. Elliott, 1863; Newell L. Reynolds, appointed September 30, 1864, to fill vacancy caused by resignation of Victor A. Elliott; S. B. Price, elected 1866, and resigned September 2, 1866, Rev. J. F. Calkins, appointed 1867; Elias J. Horton, Jr., elected 1869; re-elected 1872; Miss Sarah I. Lewis, 1875; re-elected 1878; M. F. Cass, 1881; re-elected 1884 and 1887; Henry E. Raesly, 1890; re-elected in 1893 and 1896.

Mercantile Appraisers .- This office was created by act of 1850. Prior to that time the duties of the office were performed by a board composed of the county commissioners and associate judges. The officer is required to visit all merchants in the county and appraise their business for the purpose of imposing a state tax. Since 1850 the office has been filled by appointment of the commissioners, and it is generally among their last acts at the close of the year. The records show the fol- lowing appointments: Josiah Emery, 1851; Thomas Allen, 1852-53; Henry W. Williams, 1854-55; Josiah Emery, 1856; Thomas J. Wood, 1857-58; William But- ler, 1859; David F. Gardner, 1860-61; Jerome B. Niles, 1862; Alpheus E. Dann, 1863; E. J. Purple, 1864-67; B. W. Skinner, 1868; Selah Frost, 1869; Job Symonds, 1870; George H. Baxter, 1871; Otis L. Atherton, 1872; M. W. Wetherbee, 1873; B. Short, 1874; J. E. Sheive, 1875; Sidney Beach, 1876; John Brown Wakeley, 1877; H. J. Elliott, 1878; J. S. Morgan, 1879; Silas S. Rockwell, 1880; Andrew J. Doane, 1881; J. Porter Wilcox, 1882; Sumner P. White, 1883; Timothy B. Culver, 1884-85; C. E. Thomas, 1886; Jonathan V. Morgan, 1887-88; W. D. Knox, 1889; Deruyter Avery, 1890; A. M. Pitts, 1891; N. Losey, 1892; John C. White, 1893; Sheridan E. Coles, 1894; Frank Marvin, 1895, and Chas. Washburn, 1896.

Jury Commissioners .- This office was created by an act of assembly, approved April 10, 1867. It authorizes the election of two commissioners every three years, one of whom shall belong to the minority party. The incumbents of this office have been elected as follows: Leroy Tabor and John W. Bailey, 1867; S. S. Love and John W. Bailey, 1870; Edward A. Fish and Hiram S. Hastings, 1873; G. H. Baxter and Daniel Watson, 1876; E. C. Stilwell and H. J. Elliott, 1879; Samuel D. Evans and Otis H. Davis, 1882; Jonathan V. Morgan and D. S. Horton, 1885; Charles C. Mathers and James C. Goodspeed, 1888; Thomas M. Reese and Frank M. Davis, 1891, and Andrew Brimegin and Floyd F. Hogaboom, 1894.

CHAPTER XII.

THE BENCH AND BAR.

PERSONAL SKETCHES OF PRESIDENT JUDGES-MANY ABLE AND DISTINGUISHED JURISTS AMONG THEM-THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY-A BRILLIANT ARRAY OF LEGAL TALENT-THE TIOGA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION-JOHN F. DONALDSON, PROTHONOTARY AND POLITICIAN-A SKETCH OF HIS CAREER.

T ILE men who have filled the important and honorable office of president judge, since the organization of the first courts of Tioga county to the present time, have been men of marked ability as jurists and lawyers, and have, as a rule, been personally popular in the great body of the citizenship of the county.

HON. JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON, who presided at the opening of the first court in January, 1813, was a native of C'umberland (now Perry) county, Penn- sylvania, where he was born November 8, 1780. He was a son of Col. George Gibson, who fell at St. Clair's defeat in 1791. After receiving his preparatory education he entered Dickinson College and gradnated therefrom in due season. Hle studied law under the direction of Hon. Thomas Duncan and was admitted to the bar in 1803. After practicing for a short time in Carlisle he removed to Beaver, where his father had at one time been engaged in military operations. Thence he went to Hagerstown, Maryland, and shortly afterward returned to Carlisle. In 1810 he was elected to the lower house of the legislature, and was re-elected the following year. In July, 1812, he was appointed president judge of the Eleventh judicial district, and three years after was commissioned an associate justice of the Supreme Court. At the death of Chief Justice Tilghman, in 1827, he was ap- pointed by the governor to succeed him. In 1838, at the date of the adoption of the Constitution, he resigned, but the governor immediately re-appointed him. By a change in the Constitution making the judiciary elective. his seat became vacant in 1851. During the same year he was elected an associate justice of the Supreme Court and remained on the bench to the close of his life.

When Judge Gibson presided over the first court of Tioga county he was a young man of scarcely thirty-three, but he had already seen much of public life and understood well the manners and customs of the frontier settlers. As a jurist he was recognized as one of the ablest of his time and his legal opinions are among the richest treasures of the country. He died in Philadelphia May 3. 1853, and was buried at Carlisle.

HON. THOMAS BURNSIDE, of Bellefonte, succeeded Judge Gibson. He, how- ever, soon afterward resigned. appearing only during one term of court in Wellsboro.

HON. EDWARD HERRICK, the successor of Judge Burnside, was appointed by

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

Governor Findley July 6, 1818. The judicial district was then known as the Thirteenth, and was composed of the counties of Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga, to which were subsequently added Potter and Mckean. Judge Herrick, who was of English descent, was born in Dutchess county, New York, October 26, 1787. After finishing his law studies with his brother at Zanesville, Ohio, he was admitted to the bar at Chillicothe, August 8, 1808, a few months before reaching his majority. He at once entered on the practice of his profession in Ohio, and was soon appointed district attorney for Licking, Knox and Tuscarawas counties. In 1812 he was elected to the legislature from Licking county. He located at Athens, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1813, because he had relatives living there, and engaged in his profession. He rose rapidly, became a representative man, and filled several positions of honor, among which was that of brigade in- spector of the counties of Lycoming, Potter, Mckean, Bradford and Tioga, by ap- pointment of Governor Snyder in July, 1814. After a service of twenty-one years on the bench he retired February 27, 1839, the New Constitution having limited the judicial tenure. He was honored by having a township in Bradford, and one in Susquehanna county named for him. Judge Herrick died at Athens March 7, 1873, in the eighty-seventh year of his age.

JOHN NESBIT CONYNGHAM, of Wilkes-Barre, who came upon the bench in 1839, succeeded Judge Herrick. He was born in Philadelphia, December 17, 1798, grad- uated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1816, studied law in the office of Hon. J. R. Ingersoll, and upon being admitted to the bar settled in Wilkes-Barre in 1820. Judge Conyngham retired from the bench of Tioga county in February, 1849, but he served twenty years longer in the adjoining district. The circumstances of his death were peculiarly sad. In April, 1871, while on his way to visit a son in Mississippi, he fell under the wheels of a car, while stepping from a moving train, and had both his legs crushed below the knees, dying in two hours.

HON. HORACE WILLISTON, of Athens, Bradford county, was appointed to succeed Judge Conyngham, and he held the judgeship until the first Monday of December, 1851, when he went out by virtue of an amendment to the Constitution, adopted at the general election in 1850, making the judges elective.

HON. ROBERT GRAY WHITE was elected president judge in 1851, and re-elected in 1861, and was the first citizen of Tioga county to fill the office. That was the year in which the union took place of the Wilmot Proviso party, under the lead of David Wilmot, and those straight Democrats under the immediate lead of John F. Donaldson and Mr. White, both of Wellsboro-or rather the going over of those two gentlemen to the Wilmot Proviso party.

Previous to April 15, 1851, Tioga and Bradford counties were in the same judicial district, and Wilmot and White each wanted to be elected judge at the fall election. Here was a difficulty. White was afraid to run against Wilmot, and Wilmot was afraid to run against White. Something must be done to harmonize matters. Here was a chance for the political genius of Donaldson, and he was equal to the emergency. He proposed to "raft over three or four districts; leave Tioga in the Eighteenth, and make a new one with Bradford the principal county in it." The suggestion cut the Gordian knot and all parties were again happy. A bill was drawn by an expert, reported by the judiciary committee of the legislature,

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

and passed with little opposition. By it Tioga, Potter, Mckean and Elk formed the Eighteenth diatrict; Bradford, Susquehanna and Sullivan the Twenty-seventh. Thus both White and Wilmot became judges. What could have been more neatly done? And the beauty of the operation was in the fact that neither the people nor the legislature knew anything about the object of the movement to create a new judicial district.

Robert Gray White, fourth child of James and Charlotte (Weitzel) White, was born January 21, 1807, near Georgetown, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. His father was thrown from his wagon and killed sometime in 1812, leaving two sons and three daughters. His widow married Col. Hugh White, who had been an officer in the Revolutionary army. He was not known to be related to his predecessor, James White. Col. Hugh White was the son of Hugh White, of Dauphin county; was born in 1737, and settled in Pine Creek township, Lycoming (now Clinton) county, before the Revolution, and while the land yet belonged to the Indiana. He was an active patriot during the struggle for independence and filled a number of offices, both during and after the war. His first wife was Margaret Allison, by whom he had six sons and one daughter. By the second marriage he had three sons and one daughter, viz: Isabella, George, John, and Henry. The sons lived and died in Williamaport, and Isabella (born l'ebruary 13, 1815.) still survives, and is the wife of Col. James S. Allen, of Jersey Shore. Col. Ilugh White was killed in 1822, on his Pine Creek farm, by being thrown from his horse.

Robert Gray White was educated under Rev. John H. Grier, in his classical school at Pine Creek, and at Jefferson College, Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he graduated A. B., in 1826. Choosing the law as his profession, he entered upon his studies with Hon. A. V. Parsons, Esq., of Jersey Shore. Ile afterwards re- moved to Meadville, and continued his studies, completing them in 1829 in the office of Hon. Henry Shippen, of Meadville, then president judge of the district which in- cluded (Crawford, Warren and Erie counties. Having been admitted to the bar, he lo- cated in Wellsboro in the fall of 1829, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession. He was soon recognized as a man of marked ability, and took a position at the bar of Tioga county which he sustained throughout his active career. He served as deputy attorney general in 1830-31, and became intimately associated with every public interest in the county. He was elected the delegate from Tioga and Potter counties to the Constitutional Convention of 1838, where he fully realized the highest expectations of his constituency.

It is due Judge White to say that, as a member of the Constitutional Convention, he opposed the clause in the Constitution which confined the right of suffrage to white citizens. Negroes in Pennsylvania always had this right till they were ex- cluded by the Constitution of 1838.

Judge White was married November 13, 1839, to Sarah, daughter of William and Anna (Page) Bache, one of the oldest and most respected familiea of Wellsboro. Six children, three sons and three daughters, blessed the union.

He was treasurer of Tioga county in 1840-42, and was for a time extensively en- gaged in lumbering on Pine creek, in Delmar and Shippen townships, owning mills and valuable tracts of land. During his long service on the bench he won the respect and esteem of the people, the members of the bar of the district, and all with whom

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

he came in contact. Several years before the close of his second term in 1871, the work of the district had so increased-and as he was in feeble health-an additional law judge was elected in May, 1865, in accordance with an act of the legislature, that honor falling on Hon. Henry W. Williams, of Wellsboro. The associate greatly re- lieved him and he served out his term. He retired and spent the closing years of his life at his comfortable home surrounded by his family. He died September 6, 1875.

Court was in session in Wellsboro when he died, and his death was formally an- nounced from the bench by Judge Williams, when, on motion, court adjourned. A meeting of the bar was then held to take action in relation to his death. Judge Williams was called to the chair and Hon. Mortimer F. Elliott was appointed sec- retary. On motion of F. E. Smith a committee was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the great loss the bar and the country had sustained in the death of Judge White. In presenting the resolutions the chairman, Mr. Smith, made some appropriate and feeling remarks upon the character of the deceased. Among the resolutions was the following:

Resolved, That in Judge White we recognize what has been appropriately said to be "the noblest work of God"-an honest man. Honorable and high toned in all his thoughts and actions, as such he adorned the profession of his choice; upright and impartial as a judge, the judicial ermine was never soiled by his wearing it. Courteous, kind and liberal as a citizen and a parent, the world was made the better by his living in it.

HON. HENRY W. WILLIAMS, who was appointed additional law judge of the district in March, 1865, by Governor Curtin, succeeded Judge White as president judge, to which office he was elected in the autumn of 1871. At the close of his ten years' term he was re-elected as his own successor, but before completing his second term he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, August 19, 1887, vice Justice Mercur, deceased. The same year he was nominated and elected for a full term of twenty-one years, and commissioned December 22, 1887. His term will expire January 1, 1909.

Judge Williams was born July 30, 1830, in Harford, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and was fitted for admission to Amherst College at Franklin Academy, At the age of twenty-two he commenced the study of law with Hon. E. B. Chase, of Montrose. In May, 1852, he located in Wellsboro, and resuming his law studies under Hon. John W. Guernsey, was admitted to the bar of Tioga county in January, 1854. The following year he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State, and in 1856 to the United States district and circuit courts. Immediately upon his admission he took high rank and won distinction as an advocate, being a fluent, eloquent and logical speaker. In 1874 he was appointed one of the board of seven commissioners to revise the New Constitution, and he performed the part of the work assigned him with great care and ability. Judge Williams is a member of the Presbyterian church and has always taken a deep interest in its affairs. In 1877 he was appointed one of the delegates to rep- resent the church of the United States in the Pan-Presbyterian council at Edin- burgh, Scotland, and he delivered an address before that able body which may be found in its printed proceedings. In 1881 he represented Pennsylvania in the

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

International Sunday-school convention at Toronto, Canada, and was honored by being chosen one of the vice-presidents. For several years he has been one of the state executive committee of the Sunday School Association and of the Young Men's Christian Association. He also takes much interest in Masonry, and on June 24, 1882, he delivered an address before the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons at Philadelphia, the occasion being the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its establishment. This address attracted much attention from the fraternity on account of its ability and the valuable information it imparted. Judge Williams is now Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

It is thus seen that while discharging the onerous duties which have devolved on him as president judge and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the State, he has found time to leave his impress on the church, Sunday school, Christian As- sociation and Free Masonry. His position on the bench of the Supreme Court necessarily compels him to spend much of his time in Philadelphia, yet he maintains his home in Wellsboro, where he spends the summer months with his family. Judge Williams married Miss Sarah E. Nichols, a daughter of Judge Levi I. Nichols, and a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families of Wellsboro. The union has been blessed with two children, a son and a daughter, the former of whom is a practicing physician in Wellsboro. Throughout his long and active public career Judge Williams has retained the unbounded confidence of the people of Tioga county, among whom he has lived for more than forty years.

HON. STEPHEN FOWLER WILSON, the next president judge of the district, is one of the beat known men in Tioga county. Ile is a native of Columbia township, Bradford county, where he was born September 1, 1821. His parents, George and Jane Wilson, were natives of Ireland, and he was the youngest of seven children. He labored on a farm until he was eighteen years of age, attending such schoola as the neighborhood afforded in the winter time and subsequently the famous Wells- boro Academy, and in January, 1844, he was employed in that institution as an assistant for one term, "at the price and sum of $52, if employed the whole time in teaching, but if not employed but one-half of the time, then the price to be $10 per month!"

As early as 1842 he had commenced reading law under the direction of Hon. James Lowrey, one of the early teachers of the academy, and was admitted to the bar of Tioga county February 20, 1845. The committee on examination consisted of Hon. Robert G. White (afterward president judge), Hon. John C. Knox (subse- quently attorney general of Pennsylvania and a judge of the Supreme Court), and Hon. John W. Guernsey, later state senator and a distinguished member of the bar. Judge Conyngham was then on the bench. Mr. Wilson at once entered upon the practice of his profession and soon afterwards formed a partnership with L. P. Williston. Several years afterwards he formed a co-partnership with Hon. James Lowrey, his preceptor, which cxisted until the latter removed to New Jersey in 1865. Afterwards Mr. Wilson formed a partnership with Hon. Jerome B. Niles, which continued until he was appointed additional law judge in 18:1.

In the meantime Mr. Wilson had become active in politics. Prior to 1851 he acted with the Democratic party. but since that time he has been a pronounced Republican. In 1862 he was elected to the State Senate, representing the counties

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

of Tioga, Potter, Mckean and Warren, and served in that body a full term. In 1864, while still a member of the Senate, he was elected to Congress from the district composed of Tioga, Lycoming, Centre, Clinton and Potter counties, and was re- elected in 1866, thus serving four years. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Repub- lican National Convention at Baltimore which re-nominated President Lincoln. In 1871 he was appointed additional law judge to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Judge Williams to the office of president judge, and at the following election he was chosen as his own successor for a full term of ten years. In 1884 he was appointed by President Arthur an associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Mexico and served until July, 1885. Returning to Wellsboro he resumed practice, but in 1887 he was appointed president judge to succeed Judge Williams, who had been elected an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and sat upon the bench up to 1889.

For many years Judge Wilson has taken considerable interest in agriculture and was president of the Tioga County Agricultural Society in 1875. He has many personal friends throughout this section of the State and is noted for his kindly generosity and social qualities. Although he has remained a bachelor, he cannot be accused of being "crusty," but on the other hand is of an exceedingly jovial and cheerful disposition, and can relate and enjoy a good anecdote. Since retiring from the bench he has devoted his attention to the practice of the law, and is recognized as one of the leading lawyers of northern Pennsylvania.

In the hurry and bustle incident to a political and public career, Judge Wilson has not been unmindful of his last earthly home. Within recent years he has erected a unique and substantial burial vault in the beautiful cemetery adjacent to the town. It is in the form of a log cabin, and is constructed of a peculiar gray stone obtained from Ohio. Looking through the door into the vault one sees the top of a sarcoph- agus, at the head of which stands a marble bust of the judge. The inscription on the marble slab covering the receptacle gives the name and date of birth with a blank for the insertion of the date of death. Underneath all is the strange sentence: "P. S .- Waiting for further orders!"

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 18

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown Number of Pages: 1454

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454