History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 19

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

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HON. JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL succeeded Judge Wilson as president judge of the Fourth judicial district, to which position he was elected in the fall of 1888, taking his seat in January, 1889. Judge Mitchell was born in Tioga township, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1838. His grandfather, Richard Mitchell, married Ruby Keeney, of Hartford, Connecticut, whence they came to what is now Tioga county in 1792 and settled near the mouth of Mitchell's creek, in Tioga town- ship. On the maternal side Judge Mitchell is related to the Allens of Vermont, of whom the most celebrated was Col. Ethan Allen, of Ticonderoga fame. Four of the near relatives of his grandmother were Revolutionary soldiers, and one was an orderly of General Washington. His father, Thomas K. Mitchell, was born on the family homestead in Tioga county, and when he grew up he became a farmer, lum- berman and a merchant.

The subject of this sketch worked on his father's farm, studied in the common schools, and afterwards took a course in Bucknell University, Lewisburg, but did not graduate. He then taught school for a short time. During the War of the Rebellion he served as second lieutenant and captain of Company A, One Hundred

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and Thirty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers. After his return home he studied law with Frederick E. Smith, of Tioga, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. In 1866 he located in Wellsboro and began the practice of his profession. In 1868 he was unanimously nominated for district attorney, was elected, and served three years. Fortune smiled propitiously upon him. Before the expiration of his term he was elected to the legislature, and served five consecutive years. During this period he never met with any opposition at the primaries, which shows the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens. In 1870 he became half owner of the Agitator, and assisted in editing it for one year.

On returning from the legislature he had determined to settle down at Wells- boro and resume his profession, but in 1876 a deadlock having occurred in securing a nominee for Congress at Williamsport, his name was proposed as a candidate on whom the factions could unite. The proposition met with favor and he was promptly nominated and elected to the Forty-fifth Congress. His district, known as the Sixteenth, was composed of the counties of Cameron, Lycoming, Mckean, Potter, Sullivan and-Tioga. He was re-nominated and elected to the Forty-sixth Congress, serving altogether four years with credit to himself and constituenta.

Again he made preparations, as the expiration of his term drew near, in 1880, to retire to his home in Wellsboro. For nearly ten years he had been actively engaged in public life at Harrisburg and Washington, and he sighed for relief from the cares of office. But higher honore were in store for him. A deadlock had occurred in the selection of a United States Senator at Harrisburg, and after many fruitless attempts to select a caucus nominee, the name of Mr. Mitchell waa proposed and accepted and harmony was at once restored. He was elected and served six years, from March 4, 1881, retiring in 1887. He had but a short period of rest until he was called to the bench. Few men have had a longer and more uninterrupted political career, or have held more high offices of trust and honor without great efforts to secure them. In nearly every instance the office sought the man, which is regarded as one of the highest marks of respect that can be shown an American citizen.

Judge Mitchell was married October 3, 1860, to Jeanette Baldwin, a daughter of Buel Baldwin, of Tioga township, to which union were born three children: Herbert B., George D., and Clara, wife of Fred W. Fleitz, an attorney of Scranton. Mrs. Mitchell died November 4, 1869. On February 18, 1871, Judge Mitchell was again married, to Mary Alice Archer, daughter of Henry S. Archer, of Wellsboro. Five children have been born of this marriage, viz: Robert A., Louisa, Richard S., Edward R., and Thomas H. In religion, the family adhere to the Presbyterian faith. Judge Mitchell is a high-minded, pure and efficient judge, and is greatly respected by the people of his native county. No man has ever occupied the bench who has striven more earnestly to mete out impartial justice to all.

THE BAR OF TIOGA COUNTY.

At the time of the opening of the first court in Wellsboro there were no resident lawyers in the village. The only lawyers present, of whom we have any account, were Ethan Baldwin, Henry Wilson, Francis C. Campbell and Robert McClure. The last two were from Williamsport.

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HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

WILLIAM PATTON, the first resident lawyer, came soon after the opening of the first courts, and lived in a little log cabin which stood on the site of the present resi- dence of Judge Williams. He was a son of Col. John Patton, of Revolutionary fame, and was born in Philadelphia, August 8, 1781, and there grew to manhood, studied law and married Henrietta Anthony. Sherman Day, in his "Historical Collections," has this to say concerning him:

Mr. Washburn, Mr. Elijah Putnam and Mr. Mallory settled at Covington "Corners" previous to 1806. Mr. Bloss and Mr. Hovey had settled about the year 1801 two miles below. Mr. Sackett also lived near the same place. The landed titles were for a long time in dispute between Connecticut and Pennsylvania claimants. When at last they were settled in favor of Pennsylvania, or "Pennamites " as the "Connecticut Boys" called them, Mr. William Patton came in as their agent and laid out the town, about the year 1822, and started a store and tavern.

Mr. Patton's name appears first on the assessment list of Covington township for 1818. in 1823 he was assessed "27 town lots" in addition to other real and personal property. He came to Wellsboro more particularly in the interest of heavy land owners, representing among others Bartholomew & Patton, the latter, whose name was John Patton, presumably being his father. This firm owned large tracts of land in Tioga, Richmond and Covington townships. In 1818 Mr. Patton's name appears as one of the trustees of the Wellsboro Academy, and in 1820 he was chosen vice- president of the board. He acted as deputy attorney general in 1819. His younger brother, John, was appointed prothonotary of Tioga county in 1821 and served three years. William served as his deputy, but died in 1823, before his brother's term ex- pired. In a note to the writer, Gen. John Patton, of Curwensville, a son of John Pat- ton, says: "He died at Wellsboro in 1823; this information comes to me from my mother, she having carried me on horseback, when but six weeks old, to the funeral. The widow of William Patton married Capt. Samuel Clements, and died at Hunting- don, Pennsylvania, in 1865. * * * I was born at Covington, January 6, 1823. William Patton acted as deputy prothonotary for my father." Josiah Emery, in his sketches of early settlers simply refers to William Patton as the man who "raised the first tomatoes in the county, and the only person who knew that mush- rooms were fit to be eaten."

CLARENDON RATHBONE was born at Sutton, Massachusetts, March 23, 1796. After the usual course of reading he was admitted to practice in the courts of Madi- son county, New York, May 9, 1820, and soon afterward settled in Lawrenceville. In December, 1821, he was admitted to the bar of Tioga county. In 1826 he was ap- pointed deputy attorney general and was re-appointed in 1827 and in 1828. Although the duties of this office required his presence in Wellsboro during the sessions of the courts, he retained his home and residence in Lawrenceville. He filled the office again in 1834. Besides attending to his law business, which was extensive for that time, he early became interested in public improvements, looking toward the development of the timber and mineral resources of Tioga county, and assisted largely in bringing about the passage of the act for the construction of the Chemung canal and the incorporation of the Tioga Navigation Company, which resulted in the building of the railroad from Corning to Blossburg in 1840. In that year he re- moved to Blossburg on account of his extensive business operations, where he con-

Very nofly Mouro

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tinued to reside until his death, August 26, 1882, at the age of almost eighty-seven years. He was a man of high social and business standing, possessed excellent legal ability, and was noted for his courteous manners and gentlemanly deportment. As age erept upon him he was obliged to relinquish to a great extent his legal business, but he retained his standing in the courts of the county almost to the end of his long, active and honorable life.

HON. ELLIS LEWIS, who located in Wellsboro in 1824, was a native of York county, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1798. About 1814 he was apprenticed to Theophilus Fenn, of Harrisburg, to learn the printing trade. About 1819 or 1820 he became dissatisfied and ran away, and his master, to comply with the law, offered a reward of six cents for his apprehension. It is needless to say that he was never called on to pay the reward. After leaving Harrisburg young Lewis found his way to Williamsport and soon associated himself with J. K. Torbert in the publication of the Lycoming Gazette. He afterwards read law with Espy Van Horn and was ad- mitted to the bar September 2, 1822. In 1824 he came to Wellsboro and became a resident attorney of the village, taking up his abode in a primitive log house which stood on or near the site of the present residence of Hon. Horace B. Packer. The building was two stories and he had his office on the upper floor, which he reached by means of a ladder and then drew it up after him so that it would not be in the way in the room below. When a client or any one wishing to see him came, his wife called to him, and he let down the ladder, and the visitor ascended. He served as deputy attorney general in 1824-25.

In the latter part of 1825, in connection with his nephew, Rankin Lewis, he be- gan the publication of the Tioga Pioneer, the first newspaper in the county. In 1828 he removed to Towanda. In 1832 he was elected to the legislature. On January 29, 1833, he was commissioned attorney general of Pennsylvania, and in October of that year Governor Wolf appointed him president judge of the judicial distriet com- posed of the counties of Lyeoming, Northumberland, Union and Columbia, and he again took up his residenee in Williamsport. This place seemed like home to him, for here he had married his wife, Josephine, daughter of Joseph J. Wallis. After serving ten years he was appointed president judge of the Lancaster distriet in Jan- uary, 1843, and in 1851 he was elevated to the beneh of the Supreme Court. On December 4, 1854, he was commissioned chief justice, which high position he held until November 17, 1857. He declined a renomination, retired to private life and died in Philadelphia March 19, 1871.

Many pleasant traditions of Judge Lewis during his residence in Wellsboro are handed down. By some he was regarded as the father of the bar. In the practice of those early days there were many pleasantries indulged in. The resident lawyers were not the only practitioners at the Tioga county bar. Horace Williston, of Athens, was generally at every court; so were Simon Kinney and Edward Overton and David Cash, of Towanda. Occasionally there was an attorney from Elmira and Williams- port; while A. V Parsons, of Jersey Shore, was never absent till he became an office- holder. These outside lawyers took the eream of the practice.

WILLIAM GARRETSON, one of the pioneer members of the bar, was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, October 13, 1801, when that place was just emerging from the wilderness. Removing to Alexandria, Virginia, he taught school there in 1820. In

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1821 he came to Lewisburg, York county, Pennsylvania, and read medicine with Dr. Webster Lewis, a brother of Ellis Lewis, one of the first resident lawyers of Wells- boro. He came to Wellsboro in the summer of 1825, and was admitted to the bar September 13, of that year. In January, 1827, he removed to Tioga, where he opened an office and for some time, in connection with his practice, edited the Tioga Pioneer, after its removal to that village. He filled the office of deputy attorney general in 1829. In 1836 he was elected to the legislature and was re-elected in 1837. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Thaddeus Stevens in his great fight for the passage of the common school law, and rendered him valuable service in that cause. Mr. Garretson was one of the parties interested in the celebrated "Slave Hunt," and aided the fugitives in their flight for liberty. He became a prominent conductor on the "Underground Railroad," and assisted many a fugitive on his way to freedom. He was a warm personal friend of James Buchanan, and when the latter was appointed minister to Great Britain by President Pierce, he offered Mr. Garretson the position of secretary, which he declined. As they were of opposite political views, the tender of such an office was a very high compliment. In 1869 Mr. Garret- son received an appointment in the department of internal revenue, Washington, D. C., where he remained until his death, December 23, 1872. The bar of Tioga county held a meeting and passed suitable resolutions to his high character and worth which were inscribed in the court minutes. Mr. Garretson was a man of sterling integrity, decided opinions and positive convictions, and enjoyed the confidence of his contemporaries at the bar.

HON. JAMES LOWREY was born in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1802, and graduated from Yale College in the class of 1824, soon after which he came to Wells- boro, and taught in the academy from November, 1824, to April, 1825, when he began the study of law under Ellis Lewis. He was admitted to practice in 1826, and became the partner of his preceptor. For nearly forty years Mr. Lowrey practiced law in Tioga county, removing in 1865 to Burlington, New Jersey. He was a gentleman of scholastic attainments, a lover and a student of the best literature and did much to stimulate the intellectual life of Wellsboro. Although not distin- guished as an advocate, he was wise in counsel and enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. In 1835 he married Mary W. Morris, a daughter of Judge Samuel W. Morris, and a lady of culture and refinement. His home and his office were for years centers of attraction for the student and the lover of learning. It has been truthfully said of him that "his professional career was without a stain, and his private life equally spotless in its purity, and he was distinguished alike for his modesty and his learning, for his gentleness of heart and his clearness of head." He represented Tioga county in the legislature two years. Close application to business having undermined his health, he abandoned his profession, removed to New Jersey, and engaged in agriculture, hoping to recover his physical strength while devoting his time to light outdoor pursuits. But the change did not benefit his condition, and he died suddenly November 30, 1875, in the seventy-third year of his age.

After his death Mrs. Lowrey took up her residence for a time in Washington, D. C., and then removed to Pasadena, California, where she died August 23, 1896, aged eighty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Lowrey's surviving children

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are Anna Morris; Mary, wife of Hon. Henry Booth, of Chicago; Ellen M., wife of Frederick K. Wright, of Wellaboro, and Louisa, wife of Frank Foster, of St. Paul, Minnesota.

JOSIAH EMERY became well and widely known as an educator, scholar, lawyer and historical writer, and more than passing reference should be given to him. He was born in Canterbury, New Hampshire, November 30, 1801, and traced his ancestry back through six generations to Nathan Emery. The family was of Norman origin. He was the third of sixteen children born to Nathan and Betsy (McCrillis) Emery, and attended Kimball Union Academy, in his native State, until the age of nineteen, when he entered Dartmouth College. Here he remained until reaching his majority, and then followed teaching for six years. He was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1828, in which year he came to Wellsboro, and took charge as principal of the academy. After his retirement from the Wellsboro Academy he was married February 12, 1830, to Julia Ann, daughter of Hon. John Beecher, of Tioga county, an old-time landlord, sheriff and member of the legislature.

Mr. Emery was admitted to the bar at Wellsboro in 1831. He served as district attorney of Tioga county and postmaster of Wellsboro; also as commissioner of bankruptcy, and of drafts during the war. In 18:1 he removed to Williamsport, where he practiced his profession for a short time, when he retired. lle always took a deep interest in literary work, and especially in the cause of education. He was for many years a trustee of the Wellsboro Academy, after retiring from it as teacher, and he wrote much on local topics. Through his industry in this line of work a great deal of early history relating to Wellsboro and Tioga county has been preserved.

During his residence in Williamsport he was a member of the school board for nine years, serving one term as president. lle founded the public school library, and the Emery school building in that city waa named in his honor. because of hia devotion to the cause of education. The closing years of his long and industrious life were devoted to literary pursuits. Ile wrote much for the local press. One of his greatest efforts in the literary line was a manuscript history of earthquakes.

On July 24, 1871, Mr. Emery had the misfortune to lose his wife by death. He survived her almost twenty years, dying in Williamsport, April 26, 1891, at the ripe age of ninety years, four months and twenty-eight days. Both are buried in the cemetery at Wellsboro. Mr. and Mrs. Emery were the parents of eleven children, five sons and six daughtera.

HON. JOHN WESLEY MAYNARD, who attained to great distinction in the legal profession, commenced his career in Tioga county. He was born May 18, 1806, at Springfield, Vermont. In 1823 his parents removed to Hamilton, New York, where he received an academic education. He commenced studying law in the office of . William G. Angell and George C. Clyde, of Otsego county, where he spent three years, and in 1828 removed with his parents to Lawrenceville, Tioga county, Pennsyl- vania, where he practiced law until the spring of 1833, when he located in Tioga. In 1840 ho removed to Williamsport, because it afforded a wider field. He became eminent at the bar of Lycoming county. In 1859 he was appointed assistant law judge at Pittaburg, and in 1862 he was elected president judge of the Third judicial

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district, composed of Northampton and Lehigh counties, where he remained for six years and then resigned and returned to Williamsport. After an experience of half a century he retired from practice and spent the remainder of his days in repose. He was a ripe scholar, an able lawyer and brilliant advocate. Judge Maynard was mar- ried three times. The second wife of Peter Herdic was a daughter by his second marriage. He died at Minnequa in 1885, at the ripe age of nearly seventy-nine years.

HON. JOHN W. GUERNSEY was born in Hudson, New York, January 28, 1811. When he was about four months old his parents removed to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and settled on a farm. His father died early, leaving a widow and eight children. At nine years of age young Guernsey was thrown entirely on his own resources, but possessing ambition and pluck, he managed to secure an education at the Montrose Academy. In 1831 he came to Wellsboro; commenced reading law under the direction of James Lowrey; was admitted in 1835, and opened an office at Tioga. In 1840 he was appointed United States marshal, and that year took the census of the entire county of Tioga, which gave a population of 15,498. In 1850 he removed to Wellsboro, where he resided until 1852, when he returned to Tioga. He served one term in the State Senate and two terms in the House. Although leading such an active public life, Mr. Guernsey did not neglect his practice, which embraced. the counties of Tioga, Potter, McKean, Bradford and Lycoming. He devoted his principal attention to collections, and won a high record as an honest lawyer and a man of unquestioned integrity. To his watchful care was intrusted the manage- ment of many estates, and he acquired a competency by the practice of his profession which he continued to prosecute until 1874, when advancing age admonished him to retire. His wife, Susan Marriott Morris, was a daughter of Judge Samuel Wells Morris, and brought to his home culture and refinement. He died at his residence in the borough of Tioga, November 29, 1882.

ALEXANDER S. BREWSTER was born at Bridgwater, Susquehanna county, Penn- sylvania, April 7, 1812, a son of Jonah and Lovisa (Sprague) Brewster. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and at Montrose Academy, and when sixteen years of age began teaching school, which he followed about a year. He came with his father to Tioga in 1829, and clerked in the store until the spring of 1831, when he became a clerk in his father's office at Wellsboro. During this period he read law under James Lowrey, was admitted to practice in February, 1835, and is to-day the oldest living member of the Tioga bar. Ten days after his admission he was appointed district attorney and filled the office three years. In 1839 he was ap- pointed by Governor Porter prothonotary of the county, held the office one year, and was then elected a county auditor. He practiced his profession a few years and then secured the position of transcribing clerk in the legislature, in 1846, and served as such six years. He subsequently held the postmastership of Wellsboro, and has also filled the offices of councilman, burgess and poormaster. Though a staunch Demo- crat, and living in a community strongly Republican, 'Squire Brewster has been elected seven successive terms as justice of the peace, each time without opposition, and at the close of his present term will have held the office thirty-five consecutive years. In the early thirties he was major of the First Battalion, One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, and took quite an active interest in local

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military affairs during that period. On December 3, 1843, Major Brewster married Mary Sophronia Smith, of Chenango county, New York, to which union have been born six children, viz: Mary E., Joseph W., Almira and James J., all of whom are dead; Mary S., wife of C. H. Roberts, of Tioga county, and Sarah E., wife of James E. Fish, of Wellsboro. 'Squire Brewster's family are connected with the Presby terian church. Though never accumulating much of this world's riches, he is held in high esteem by the people of Wellsboro, where he has lived for sixty-five years.

HON. LORENZO PARSONS WILLISTON, born at Binghamton, New York, August, 1815, died at his home in Wellsboro May 22, 1887. He received a good education and studied law under the direction of his father, Hon. Horace Williston (then of Athens), who served as president judge here a short time, by appointment, after the retirement of Judge Conyngham. After settling in Wellsboro he was associated for a short time with Hon. S. F. Wilson in the practice of the law. In 1856 he was elected a member of the lower house of the legislature and served in that body until 1860. President Lincoln appointed him United States judge in Dakota, and three years afterwards he was transferred to Montana. Returning home he settled at Towanda and practiced his profession there for three years, when he returned to Wellsboro, where he continued to reside until his death, the immediate cause of which was apoplexy. Judge Williston married Miss Martha A., daughter of Dr. John B. Murphey, one of the early physicians of Wellsboro. His widow, two sons and two daughters survive.

HON. JOHN C. KNOX, one of the most distinguished members of the Tioga county bar, was born in what is now the borough of Knoxville, February 18, 1817. He studied law with Judge Purple, of Lawrenceville, afterward a prominent jurist in Illinois, and with William Garretson, of Tioga, where he practiced a few years and then removed to Wellsboro. He rose rapidly in his chosen profession, and soon became one of the leading lawyers of the county. He served as deputy attorney general in 1840-42. In 1845 he was sent to the legislature and re-elected the next year, but before the expiration of his last year Governor Shunk appointed him judge of a judicial district in the western part of the State. Before his term expired he was nominated and elected an associate justice of the State Supreme Court. The routine work of the court proved too monotonous, and he resigned before the expi- ration of his term. In 1858 he was appointed attorney general of Pennsylvania, and at the close of his term he accepted the position of judge advocate in the United States army and held it till the close of the war. Settling in Philadelphia he soon took high rank as a lawyer, but in the midst of his busy practice he was stricken with paralysis of the brain and was forced to retire from the bar. He lingered for several years in a helpless condition and died at Wellsboro August 26, 1880. As a lawyer he was able and brilliant, and would have attained to higher eminence in the profes- sion if he had been permitted to reach the full maturity of his powers. He was an honor to the profession and the county that gave him birth, and his death was deeply mourned.

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History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 19

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