History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 63

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 63

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3 III. Carey & Bioren, 277; II. Smith L., 448.

4 The Italics represent the line through Washington County.

Crawfords run ; thence, by a straight line, to the mouth of Brush creek, on Turtle creek; thenco up Turtle creek, to the main fork thereof; thence, by a northerly line, until it strikes Puckety's creek; theere down the said creek to the Allegheny river ; thenice up the Allegheny river to the northern boundary of the State ; thence along the rate to the western line of the State ; thence along the same to the river php; and thence up the same to the place of beginning; to be henceforth known and called by the name of Allegheny county."

On Sept. 17, 1789,5 another act was passed, agreeably to the petition of the inhabitants of that part of the county of Washington included in the 1789. boundaries hereinafter mentioned, praying to be annexed to Allegheny County :

"SECT. II. Be it enacted, &e., That all that part of Washington County included by the following lines, viz., Beginning at the river Ohio, where the boundary line of the state crosses the said river, from thence in & straight line to White's mill," on Raccoon creek, from thence by a straight line to Armstrong's mill, on Miller's run, and from thence by a straight line to the Monongahela river, opposite the mouth of Perry's run, where it strikes the present line of the county of Allegheny, bo . . . annexed to the said county of Allegheny."

Having lost a large portion of our possessions on the north, an effort to erect a new county out of our southern territory, thus shutting us off from the cele- brated Mason and Dixon's line, is finally suc- cessful by means of an act passed Feb. 9, 1796,7 1796. of which there is copied :

".SECT. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That all that part of Washington county lying within the limits and bounds hereinafter described shall be, and is hereby, erected into a separate county, that is to say, beginning at the mouth of Ten-Mile creek, on the Monongahela river; thence up Ten-Mile creek to the junction of the north and south forks of said creek ; thence up said north fork to Colonel William Wallace's mills ; 8 thence up a southwesterly direction to the nearest part of the dividing ridge between the north and south forks of Teu-Mile creek : thence along the top of the said ridge to the ridge which divides the waters of Ten-Mile and Wheeling creeks; thence a straight line to the head of Enlow's branch of the Wheeling; thence down said branch to the western boundary line of the state; thence south along said line to the southern boundary line of the state; thence east along said line to the river Monongahela; and thence down the said river to the place o beginning; to be henceforth known and called by the name of Greene county."

On Jan. 22, 1802,9 an act of Assembly was passed modifying the Greene County line somewhat, and returning to us a small portion of the 1802. territory taken in 1796:

" SECT. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That from and after the passage of this act, the following alteration shall take place in the line between the counties of Washington and Greene, viz .: beginning at the present line, on the ridge that divides the waters of Ten-Mile and Wheeling creeks, near Jacob Bobbet's; thence a straight line to the head-waters of Hunter's fork of Wheeling creek ; and thence down the same to the mouth thereof, where it meets the present county line."

9 VI. Carey & Bioren, 215; III. Smith L., 480.

10 VI. Carey & Bioren, 115; III. Smith L., 421.

242

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

"SECT. 1. Be it enacted, &c., That those parts of the counties of Alle- gheny and Washington, included within the following boundaries, viz. : Beginning at the mouth of Big Sewickly creek on the Ohio river; thence up the said creek to the west line of Alexander's district of de- preciation lands; thence northerly along the said line and continuing the same course to the north line of the first donation district; thence westerly along the said line to the western boundary of the State; thence southerly along the said boundary across the Ohio river to a point in the said boundary, from which a line to be run at a right angle easterly will strike White's mill] on Raccoon creek, and from such point along the said easterly line to the said mill, leaving the said mill in the county of Beaver; thence on a straight line to the mouth of Big Sewickly creek, the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby, erected into a separate county, to be henceforth called Beaver County; and the place of holding the courts of Justice shall be at Beaver-town, in the said county."

Since the erection of Greene County, and the mod- ification of its line in 1802, there has been no change of the limits of Washington County. With all her losses she is still of magnificent proportions.2 And now, at the time of which we write, a new generation of men are about to take hold of public affairs, and our judicial system to be materially changed.

Under the Constitution of 1790 .- The Constitu- tion of 1776, Section 30, provided that out of the two or more persons chosen for each ward, township, or district, the president in Council should commission one for each ward, township, or district, to serve for seven years, removable for misconduct by the General Assembly. All of these justices could sit in the Quarter Sessions, though only such as were specially selected and commissioned therefor could hear causes in the Common Pleas and Orphans' Courts. Hence, in 1788, there began to be a new set of justices of the County Courts, who were as follows :

Henry Taylor, President, commissioned Sept. 30, 1788.

James Edgar, Associate,

Sept. 30, 1788.

Wm. McFarland,

Sept. 30, 1788.

John Reed,

Nov. 8, 1788.

Hugh Scott,

Nov. 8, 1788.

Wm. Smiley,

Nov. 11, 1788.

Eleazer Jenkins, =

March 3, 1789.

Absalom Baird,

March 3, 1789.

John Douglass,

March 3, 1789.

Thomas Ryerson,

April 8, 1789.

John Minor,

Nov. 30, 1789.

William Smith,

Dec. 21, 1789.

James Bell,

Jan. 11, 1790.

James Archer,

April 6, 1790.

Zephaniah Beall,

July 28, 1790.

James Mitchell,

Aug. 24, 1790.

1 Now Murdochsville. The Italics indicate the line through Washing- ton County.

2 According to the Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs for 1881, p. 60 A., the county contains: square miles, 889; acres, 568,960 ; popula- tion in 1880, 55,417. To illustrate the county's growth in population, as compared with the surrounding counties, the following table is copied from Mr. Veech, Centenary Memorial, 342:

1790.

1800.

1810.

1820.

Westmoreland

16,018

22,726

26,392

30,540

Washington.

23,866

28,298

36,289

40,038

Fayette.

13,325

20,159

24,714

27,285

Allegheny

10,309

15,087

25,317

35,921

Greene ..

8,605

12,544

15,554

Beaver.

5,776

12,168

15,340

In considering this table, remember that in 1800 Allegheny and West- moreland contained parts of Armstrong, and Westmoreland the greater part of Indiana.

John Canon, Associate, commissioned Aug. 24, 1790. Henry Graham, = Aug. 24, 1790.8

But the new Constitution, adopted in convention on Sept. 2, 1790,4 made quite a radical change in the judicial system, the nature of which was as follows: By Section II. the judges of the Supreme Court and of the several courts of Common Pleas were to hold their offices during good behavior; 1790. removal by the Governor on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the Legislature.5

For the Court of Common Pleas, which now be- came the principal court, by Section IV. the Gover- nor was to appoint in each county "not fewer than three, nor more than four, judges," who during their continuance in office should reside in such county. The State was to be divided by law into circuits, none of which to include "more than six nor fewer than three" counties, and there was to be appointed a president of the courts in each circuit, who during his continuance in office should reside therein. "The president and judges, any two of whom shall be a quorum, shall compose the respective Courts of Com- mon Pleas."

By Section VII. the judges of the Court of Com- mon Pleas of each county, any two of whom should be a quorum, should compose the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace and Orphans' Court thereof, and the register of wills, together with the said judges, or any two of them, should compose the Register's Court of each county.

Of justices of the peace, now no longer members of the County Court, by Section X. the Governor was to appoint a competent number, "in such convenient districts in each county as are or shall be directed by law." These were to be commissioned during good behavior, but were removable on conviction of mis- behavior in office, or of any infamous crime, or on the address of both houses of the Legislature.

In the selection of sheriff's and coroners there was no substantial change. Two persons for each office were chosen by the electors; one (and either) was commissioned to serve for three years. The sheriff could not be twice chosen in six years. The prothon- otary and clerk (one person might hold these offices) was appointed and commissioned as heretofore by the Governor.

By Sections III. and IV. of the schedule to this Constitution all officers except judges of the Supreme Court in the appointment of the executive depart- ment were to continue in the exercise of their duties until Sept. 1, 1791 (unless their commissions should sooner expire by limitation, or the offices become vacant by death or resignation), and no longer; and until that date justice was to be administered in the

3 This list from III. Penn. Archives, Sec. S., 778, with a few dates cor- rected from the original commissions.

4 IV. Carey & Bioren, XIX .; III. Smith L., XXXV .; III. Dall. L., XXII.

6 By this Constitution consisting of a Senate and House of Represen- tatives; the Supreme Executive Council being abolished.

243

CIVIL AND LEGAL-HON. ALEXANDER ADDISON.

several counties " by the same justices, in the same courts, and in the same manner as heretofore."

Preparatory for the reorganization of the judiciary system under the foregoing Constitution, the General Assembly on April 13, 1791, passed an act,1 in which was provided :

1791.

" SECT. II. And be it further enacted, etc., That, in order to render effect- ual the provisions made in the said constitution for establishing the courts of Common Pleas, this Commonwealth shall be, and hereby is, divided into five districts, or circuits, to be limited as follows, that is to Bay : [1st, Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware; 2d, Ches- ter, Lancaster, York, and Dauphin ; 3d, Berks, Northampton, Luzerne, and Northumberland; 4th, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Hunting- don, and Mifflin]; and the fifth circuit, or district, to consist of the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Allegheny."

The Section III. of this act provided that in and for each of the said districts, or circuits, a " person of knowledge and integrity, skilled in the laws, shall be appointed and commissioned by the Governor to be President and Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas within such district," and for the appointment and commissioning of a number of " other proper persons, not fewer than three nor more than four," as judges, whose term of office should begin on Sept. 1, 1791.

Hon. Alexander Addison .- The first president appointed for the Fifth District under this act was Alexander Addison, whose commission bears date Aug. 22, 1791, and who served until succeeded by Samuel Roberts, in 1803. His associate judges dur- ing his term were Hons. Henry Taylor, James Edgar, James Allison, and Matthew Ritchie, commissioned Aug. 17, 1791; Hon. William Hoge, commissioned April 6, 1798 ; and Hon. John McDowell, commis- sioned April 7, 1802. Sulten

Hon. Alexander Addison was a native of Ireland, born in 1759, educated at Edinburgh, Scotland, and licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Aberlowe. While still young he emigrated to Pennsylvania, and coming to the West, on the 21st day of December, 1785, was taken under the charge of the Redstone Presby- tery, and permission given him to preach within its bounds.2 For a short time he preached at Washing- ton, then turned his attention to the law, and, study- ing with David Reddick, Esq., was admitted to the bar of Washington County in March, 1787. It has been said that he settled at Pittsburgh, but advertise- ments and correspondence in the Western Telegraphe in the winter of 1795 and 1796 show that he then resided in Washington.

" He was a man of culture, erudition, correct principles and thoroughly imbued with love for the good of society. These characteristics are seen in his letters, essays, charges to Grand-juries and the reports of his judi- cial decisions. They embrace a scope of thought and strength of logic, marking a fine intellect and extensive knowledge; and they exhibit a patriotism of the purest lustre, set in a bright constellation of virtues.

"Judge Addison lived and executed his functions among a sturdy people, amid the troubles, excitements, dangers and factions, which fol- lowed the adoption of the Federal Constitution of 1787, and attended the enforcement of the Excise law of the United States, which culminated in the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794. His patriotic instincts and love

of the public welfare led him by means of charges to the grand ines, to discuss frequently the underlying principles of government, the kit- premacy of the laws, and the necessity of due subordination to nightful authority, a duty which he felt urgently incumbent upon him in the disturbed condition of affairs. Though at the time controverted by par- tisanship and hatred of authority, owing to the prenhar hardships of the early settlers, these efforts are at this day among the best expositions of the principles of free government, the necessity of order and obedi- ence to law. No one can read his charge to the Grand-jury of Allegheny county, September 1, 1794, without feeling himself in the presence of and listening with uncovered head to a great man, whose virtues of heart equaled his qualities of head." 3

During the time of the Whiskey Insurrection and for some years after there was a strong party rancor existing, the political parties of the day being the Federal and Anti-Federal or "Repub- 1794. lican." Judge Addison, being identified with the former, fell a victim to the partisan hostility of the latter. An associate on the Allegheny County bench was Hon. John B. Lucas, by whom and whose friends was brought about Judge Addison's impeach- ment before the Senate of Pennsylvania. The bitterness of the day magnified a mole-hill, if 1802. anything, into a mountain. In its full effect the matter complained of was that Judge Addison had interfered with Judge Lucas in the latter's at- tempt to instruct juries in opposition to what the former believed to be the law. As formulated the charges were :

" Ist. That Judge Addison, after Judge Lucas ' had in his official char- acter and capacity of judge as aforesaid, and as he of right might do, ad- dressed a petit jury then and there duly impanneled and sworn or affirmed respectively as jurors in a cause then pending, then and there openly did declare and say to the said jury, that the address delivered to them by the said John Lucas, had nothing to do with the question be- fore them and they ought not to pay any attention to it.'

" This ' question' will be better understood by lawyers when informed that a justification was pleaded as a defense in an action of slander, and was unsupported by the testimony, and Judge Lucas' charge was in- tended to reduce the damages of the Plaintiff to a small, if not & nom- inal sum.

"2nd. That the said Alexander Addison 'did under pretense as afore- Baid of discharging and performing his official duties then and there in time of open court, unjustly, illegally, and unconstitutionally stop, threaten, and prevent the said John Lucas, from addressing as of right he might do, a Grand-jury of the said county of Allegheny then and there assembled,' &c.

" A very marked omission in these articles is the intent. No malice is averred, and no intent to act injuriously and oppressively. The first charge is followed only by a legal inference, viz: ' thereby degrading or endeavoring to degrade and villify the said John B. Lucas;' the second, ' thereby abusing and attempting to degrade the high office of President judge as aforesaid.' " 4

The sentence of the Senate, delivered on 1803. Jan. 27, 1803, was :

" That Alexander Addisou, President of the several courts of Common Pleas, in the fifth district of this State, shall be, and he hereby is removed from his office of President aforesaid, and also is disqualified to bold and exercise the office of Judge, in any court of law, within the common- wealth of Pennsylvania."

He who reads the report of this trial of Judge Ad- dison will be filled with admiration for the true great- ness manifested by the illustrious defendant, but none

1 III. Dall. L., 92; IV. Carey & Bioren, 59; III. Smith L., 28.

2 Minutes of Redstone Presbytery, 20, 22.

3 Address of Ex-Chief Justice Agnew, Centennial Celebration of Wash- ington County, 50. 4 Ibid., 154.

244

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the less with contempt for the indignities put upon him, and will wonder that partisan zeal could so blind the men who sat as his judges. He did not long survive the shameful injustice of this impeachment, dying at Pittsburgh, where he then resided, on Nov. 24, 1807.1

Hon. Samuel Roberts .- On June 2, 1803, Samuel Roberts was commissioned president judge of the Fifth District, which office he held until suc-

1803. ceeded in 1818 by Judge Baird. His associ- ates during his term were the old associates, still surviving, and Rev. Boyd Mercer, commissioned Jan. 1, 1806. But soon after Judge Roberts' term began, by Section XII. of the act of Feb. 24,

1806. 1806,2 another county was added to the Fifth

District, which was then composed of Beaver, Allegheny, Washington, Fayette, and Greene. By the same act it was also provided,-

"SECT. XV. And be it further enacted, etc., That if a vacancy should hereafter happen in any county at present organized by the death, res- ignation, or removal of any associate judge, or otherwise, the Governor shall not supply the same, unless the number of associates shall be thereby reduced to less than two; in which case, or in case of any county hereafter organized, he shall commission so many as will complete that number in each county, and no more."

It was by the section quoted that the associate judges of the county were reduced to two in number, which continued until that office was abolished by the Constitution of 1874.

Hon. Samuel Roberts was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 10, 1761. His ancestors came to Pennsylvania with the first emigrants, and his grandfather, Owen Roberts, was sheriff of Philadelphia County, 1716- 21. He was educated in Philadelphia, studied law with Hon. William Lewis, of that city, and was there admitted to the bar in 1793. The same year, at York, Pa., he married Miss Maria Heath. Subsequently, to practice his profession, he removed to Lancaster, thence to Sunbury; and while at the latter place was commissioned by Governor Mckean to succeed Judge Addison, after the latter's removal by his un- righteous impeachment, and the same year removed to Pittsburgh. Upon the change made in the dis- tricts by the act of 1818, directly to be noticed, he ceased to sit as judge in Washington County, but

continued as the president judge of the old Fifth Dis- trict, by that act composed of Beaver, Butler, and Al- legheny Counties, until his death at Pittsburgh in 1820. While upon the bench he wrote and pub- lished "Roberts' Digest of British Statutes in force in Pennsylvania," a work well known to the profes- sion, a new edition of which was edited by Hon. Robert E. Wright and published in 1847.3

As already intimated, Washington County is no longer embraced in the old Fifth District. By the act of March 23, 1818,4 after the creation 1818. of a new Fifth District, composed of Beaver, Butler, and Allegheny Counties, it was provided by

" SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, etc., That from and after the third Monday of October next the counties of Washington, Fayette, and Greene and Somerset shall be, and the same are hereby, erected into a separate judicial district, to bo called a Fourteenth District, and a person of legal knowledge and integrity shall be appointed and commissioned by the Governor to be President and Judge, etc."

Hon. Thomas H. Baird .- Thereupon, on Oct. 19, 1818, Hon. Thomas H. Baird was commissioned as president judge, holding that office till he was suc- ceeded by Judge Ewing in 1838. His associates dur- ing his term were Rev. Boyd Mercer, John Hamilton, and Thomas Mckeever, Esqs.

The Fourteenth District was of long duration. It was modified by the act of March 29, 1824,5 in this, that Somerset was taken to form with 1824. Franklin and Bedford the new Sixteenth Dis- trict, leaving Washington, Fayette, and Greene to constitute the Fourteenth District, unchanged until by the act of Jan. 23, 1866, the Twenty-seventh Dis- trict was created.6

Hon. Thomas H. Baird was the third son of Dr. Absalom Baird, one of the early and leading physi- cians, as well as a prominent civilian, of Washington County. Dr. Baird's father was John Baird, a Scotch- man, who came to America with Braddock's army, and shared in " Braddock's Defeat," on July 9, 1755. He is said to have been killed on Grant's Hill (in Pittsburgh), in the defeat of Major Grant and his Highlanders, Sept. 14, 1758. Absalom Baird, edu- cated by the widowed mother, studied medicine in Chester County, became a surgeon of the Pennsylva- nia line in the Revolutionary war, and in 1786 re- moved with his family to Washington, Pa. He was

1 Judge Addison left to survive him his widow, who removed to Wash- ington after his death; three sons,-John, who died without issue; Alexander, a brilliant young man, who studied law at Washington, and was admitted to the bar December, 1820, and in 1822 was accidentally killed by the falling of the chimney of a burning building in Washing- ton; William, first studied law with Hou. T. M. T. McKennan, then medicine at Paris, and became an eminent physician, settled at Pitts- burgh, married a Miss Ingles, and left among other children two sons, one of whom died abroad, the other, William, is at present a member of the Pittsburgh bar; four daughters,-Eliza, married Dr. Peter Mowry, and was the mother of four sons, none of whom survived her; Mary, mar- ried Samuel Hughes Fitzhugh, and left one son, who settled at Rochester, N. Y .; Jane, married first Alexander Johnston : second, Benjamin Dar- lington, by whom she left two children,-Benjamin, late postmaster at Pittsburgh, and a daughter who never married. Ann died about 1854, unmarried.

2 VIII. Bioren 9; IV. Smith L., 270.

3 Judge Roberts left eight children, five sons and three daughters. One of the daughters was married to the late Oldham Craig, deceased, for many years teller in the old Bank of Pittsburgh, and brother of the well-known historian, Neville B. Craig, deceased. Another daughter died many years ago, and the third resides in Michigan. Of the five sons,-Samuel, Edward J., Henry, Horatio, and Morgan,-all have died except Henry, who practiced medicine at Brownsville, Pa., and now re- sides in Fayette County. Edward J. was a paymaster in the United States army during the war of 1812, then clerk of the U. S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania till his death, leaving three sons,-Gen. Richard Biddle Roberts, practicing law at Chicago, Edward J. Roberts, city en- gineer for Allegheny City, Pa., and John H. Roberts, profession un- known.

4 7 Smith L., 108.

5 P. L. 194.

6 The general act of 1834 made no change in the Fourteenth District.

245

CIVIL AND LEGAL-UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1838.

commissioned a justice of the Common Pleas in 1789, was county lieutenant in 1792, sheriff in 1799, and died on Oct. 27, 1805.1

Judge Baird was born in Washington, Pa., Nov. 15, 1787; was educated at a classical school, under charge of David Johnston, in Brooke County, Va .; studied the law with Joseph Pentecost, and was admitted to the bar of Washington County in July, 1808, before he was quite twenty-one. His contemporaries at the bar were men of such ability that he must have been of high standing himself when he was commissioned president judge, on Oct. 19, 1818. His activity of mind led him much into business outside of the law, having been interested with Thomas McGiffin and Parker Campbell in the construction of the National road through Washington County, as well as in a number of manufacturing enterprises. The first sur- vey for the Chartiers Valley Railroad, about 1830 or 1831, one of the first railroads prospected, was made largely, if not wholly, at his expense, so much was he interested in the internal improvements of his 1837. county. In December, 1837, he resigned his commission as judge, and removing to Pitts- burgh, was engaged in the active practice of his pro- fession there for about twelve years. He then retired to his farm near Monongahela City, where he resided until his death. In 1854 he was the candidate of the Native American party for judge of the Supreme Court, Hon. J. S. Black, the Democratic candidate, being the successful competitor. While at his leisure on his farm he was the author of many newspaper and pamphlet publications upon different subjects of social and political importance. Although denied a collegiate education, yet his classical attainments were great, and philological studies were to him a constant recreation. He was somewhat impulsive and irascible upon the bench, but always commanded respect for his sincerity, and confidence in his in- tegrity. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Charles McKnight, in Allegheny City, Nov. 22, 1866, and is buried in the cemetery at Washington.2

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 63

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216