History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 64

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 64


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Hon. Nathaniel Ewing .- There being now a vacancy, and the office of president judge being still filled by appointment, on the 15th day of Feb- 1838. ruary, 1838, Hon. Nathaniel Ewing was com- missioned by Governor Ritner to succeed Mr. Baird, and held the office until succeeded by Judge Gilmore, in 1848. During his term his associates were, as one set succeeded another, Rev. Boyd Mercer,


Thomas Mckeever, Samuel Hill, John Grayson, and James Gordon, Esquires.


Under the Constitution of 1838 .- But the people of Pennsylvania by their delegates in convention, on Feb. 22, 1838,3 amended the Constitution of 1790, in many particulars changing the judicial system. The constitution as amended, however, was not to be effective until Jan. 1, 1839.


By Article V., Section II. :


" . . . The president judges of the several courts of Common Pleas, and of such other courts of Record as are or shall be established by law, and all other judges required to be learned in the law, shall hold their offices for the term of ten years if they shall so long behave themselves well. The Associate judges of the courts of Common Pleas shall hold their offices for the term of five years if they shall so long behave them- selves well. But for any reasonable cause which shall not be sufficient ground of impeachment the Governor may remove any of them on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the Legislature. .. . "


No substantial change was made in the organiza- tion or jurisdiction of the courts ; but by Article VI., Sections I. and III., sheriffs, coroners, prothonotaries, and clerks were also made elective by the people, one for each office in the case of the sheriff and coro- ner, though as to the others the Legislature might provide whether they be held by one person or sepa- rately by two.


By Section VII. of the schedule the commissions of the law judges who should not have held their offices for ten years at the adoption of the amendments were to expire on the 27th of February next after the end of ten years from the date of their commissions, which provision enabled Judge Ewing, though appointed before the amended Constitution went into effect, to continue in office until Feb. 27, 1848.


Hon. Nathaniel Ewing was the son of William Ewing, Esq., and grandson of George Ewing, of Peach Bottom, York Co., who, it is said, was a cousin of the celebrated Rev. Dr. John Ewing, pro- vost of the University of Pennsylvania, at Phila- delphia, and one of the commissioners in the bound- ary line controversy. William Ewing, his father, came into Fayette County as a surveyor about 1790, and married Mary, daughter of Jehu Conwell, and settled in the Dunlap's Creek neighborhood, near Heistersburg. Nathaniel was born July 18, 1794, educated at Washington College, under the presi- dency of Dr. Matthew Brown, graduating with the honors of his class ; taught a year in Delaware; re- turning to Washington studied law with Hon. Thomas McGiffin, and was admitted to the bar of Washington County in June, 1816. The next year he removed to Uniontown, Pa., where he began his professional business, and where he resided until his death. Ap- pointed in 1838 to fill the vacancy in the office of president judge, caused by Judge Baird's resignation, his appointment would have been for life had not the amendment to the Constitution limited it to one for ten years. While he was upon the bench it was said


3 P. L., 1840, iii.


1 His children were John, George, Thomas H., William, the lawyer, Sarah, wife of William Hodge, Maysville, Ky., and Susan, wife of Dr. Hugh Campbell, Uniontown.


2 The wife of Mr. Baird was Nancy Mccullough, who survived him, but has since died. His children, Ellen, widow of Hon. R. R. Reed ; Susannah and Jane, who died young; Sarah, widow of Mr. George Mor- gan ; Mary, widow of Joseph Patterson, mother of T. H. B. Patterson, of Pittsburgh bar; Absalom, died young; Harriet; Eliza Acheson, wife of Mr. Robert Patterson, of the Presbyterian Banner; Thomas H., of the present Washington County bar ; Susan C., died a young lady ; Margaret; Emma, died a young lady ; and Jane, widow of Charles Mcknight, of Allegheny | City.


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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


of him by one of the judges of the Supreme Court himself a great lawyer, that he was the best Common Pleas judge in the State. The younger generation of the members of our bar often hear his name as a judge and lawyer mentioned by our elders, who prac- ticed under him, in terms of very high respect. On his return to the bar he engaged in trials in court but occasionally, turning his attention to a great ex- tent more to outside business enterprises, in which he was successful in accumulating much wealth. He never sought or accepted official preferment of any kind outside of his profession, though an ardent Whig in all political contests of his day. He died in 1874, in the eightieth year of his age.1


Hon. Samuel A. Gilmore .- The ten years' term of Judge Ewing having expired by virtue of the limitation referred to, Hon. Samuel A. Gil- 1848. more, on Feb. 28, 1848, was appointed and commissioned by Governor Shunk to succeed him as president judge. His associates during the time he presided in the courts of our county were Isaac Hodgens, William Vankirk, Abraham Wotring, John Freeman, James G. Hart, and Jacob Slagle, Esqs., as one set succeeded another.


Amendment of 1850 .- But the Constitution as amended in 1838 was afterwards the subject of sev- eral additional amendments, one of which affecting the judiciary was that adopted by the General As- semblies of 1849 and 1850,2 and ratified by the peo- ple in the October election of 1850, and 1850. which, wisely or unwisely, brought the se- lection of all the judges of the State directly within the power of the people. All the judges then became elective :


". . . The Judges of the Supreme Court by the qualified electors of the Commonwealth at large; the president judges of the several Courts of Common Pleas, and of such other courts of record as are or shall be established by law, and all other judges required to be learned in the law, by the qualified electors of the respective districts over which they are to preside or act as judges; and the Associate Judges of the courts of Common Pleas by the qualified electors of the county respectively."


There was no change made in the terms of the president judge and of his associates, and it was pro- vided that the first election should take place at the next general election after the adoption of that amendment, and the commissions of all the judges then in office should expire on the first Monday of December following, when the terms of the new judges then elected should commence.


1 In 1822, Mr. Ewing married Jane, the second daughter of Judge John Kennedy, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania; she was the mother of one child, Hon. John K. Ewing (in late years also our presi- dent judge), and died in 1827. His second wife, who survives him as his widow, is the daughter of the late Rev. David Denny, of Chambersburg, Pa. By this marriage there are two children, a son Alexander, and a daughter Mary, lately married to Prof. J. J. Stephenson, who was con- nected with the geological survey of Pennsylvania in 1876. Hon. John Hoge Ewing, of Washington, still survives his brother, Judge Ewing, and of him there will be a sketch given in another part of this work. 2 P. L. 1851, 758.


At the first general election held after this amend- ment was adopted, the second Tuesday of October, 1851, Hon. Samuel A. Gilmore was chosen by the people, commissioned by Governor 1851. Bigler on Nov. 6, 1851, and served from the first Monday of December of that year until suc- ceeded by Judge Lindsey in 1861.


Judge Gilmore was the grandson of James Gilmore, Esq., who many years ago occupied the farm now owned by James G. Strean, Esq., a short distance southwest of Washington. His father, John Gilmore, studied the law at Washington, was admitted in August, 1801, and removing to Butler, Pa., married a Miss Purviance at that place, and there practiced his profession. The son, Samuel A. Gilmore, was born at Butler, studied the law, and was practicing there and in adjoining counties when first appointed presi- dent judge to succeed Judge Ewing in 1848. His first wife was a daughter of Judge Todd, at one time of the Supreme Court, and his second wife was a daugh- ter of Arnold Plumer, Esq., of Venango County, who still survives him as his widow. Upon his appointment as president judge of the Fourteenth District he re- moved to Uniontown, Pa., where he resided till his death in May, 1873.


Hon. James Lindsey .- At the general election in 1861, in a contest with Hon. James Veech, of Union- town, James Lindsey, Esq., of the Waynes- burg bar, was the successful candidate, and 1861. having been duly commissioned, began his term of service as the president judge of the Four- teenth District on the first Monday of December, 1861. His associates during his service, too soon ended by his death, were James G. Hart and Thomas McCarrell, Esqs.


Hon. James Lindsey had the blood of the first set- tlers in his veins. Thomas Hughes, John Swan, and Henry Vanmetre were among the first pioneers on the waters of Muddy Creek, coming thither from the Shenandoah Valley in 1767-68. Charles Swan, son of John, married Sarah, daughter of Henry Vanme- tre, and their daughter Mary, marrying William Col- lins, became the mother of Anne Collins, who mar- ried John Lindsey, and became the mother of James, the young judge. John Lindsey's father was James Lindsey, a Scotchman, who, coming from Lancaster County very early, settled at Jefferson, Greene County, and married Mary, a daughter of Thomas Hughes, Jr., who had married a daughter of John Swan, before mentioned. Hughes was Irish, Swan was Scotch, Vanmetre German, Lindsey Scotch,-three nationali- ties well blended into one. John Lindsey, the judge's father, was educated at Jefferson College, at Canons- burg, was a leading politician, once sheriff, and twice prothonotary of Greene County.


Hon. James Lindsey was the oldest of eleven children, six of whom survive him. He was born Nov. 21, 1827, received his education at Greene Academy, Carmichael's, Greene Co., was admitted to


247


CIVIL AND LEGAL-HON. J. KENNEDY EWING-HON. A. W. ACHESON.


the bar of Waynesburg May 15, 1849, and elected judge in October, 1861, when not quite thirty-four years of age. At the August term, 1864, he was upon the bench at Washington, but had been ill with what was thought a slight attack of bilious fever before coming hither. On his way home after the end of the term he became too ill at Prosperity to proceed, and there remained overnight, but recovered so as to reach his residence, about six miles beyond Waynes- burg, the next day. He was not considered seriously ill till on Thursday, Sept. 1, 1864, and died late that night. At once bar-meetings were held at Washing- ton, Waynesburg, and Uniontown, at each of which minutes were prepared to be filed with the records, testifying the appreciation in which he was held by the bar of his entire district. In the minutes made by the Fayette County bar it was said,-


" He came to the bench at . . . an age at which few members of the profession have more than mastered its rudiments, and scarcely any ac- quired distinction. By those unacquainted with him misgivings were naturally felt when the judicial ermine fell upon one so young. . . . But whatever fears Judge Lindsey's youth occasioned were quickly dissipated by the masterly hand with which he laid hold of his official duties, and by the apparent ease with which he carried his great burdens. How he has borne himself in his high office,-faithfully, impartially, without fear and without favor,-with what transcendent ability he has so discharged his grave and important duties, that upon not one act of his can the fault-finder lay his finger, to not one act of his can those who have the largest interest in his memory and cherish it most fer- vently revert with other than honest pride, and with the conviction that he did all and no more than became him, and that no man could have done better."


These sentiments were common to the profession of the district upon the sudden death of Hon. James Lindsey.1


After the death of Judge Lindsey, Governor Curtin, the war Governor of Pennsylvania, on Nov. 9, 1864, issued a commission to James Watson, Esq., of the Washington County bar, to hold the office of presi- dent judge of the district until the next general elec- tion in 1865. This commission was a surprise to Mr. Watson, as neither he nor his friends had asked for it, and it was declined, although with gratitude for the unsought honor.2


1 Judge Lindsey married Sarah, daughter of Dr. Arthur Inghram, & leading physician of Greene County in his day. His widow, three sons, and one daughter survive him. His brother, W. C. Lindsey, was cap- tain of Company A, Eighteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was killed in the streets of Hagerstown, Md., while leading a charge against Lee's retreating army three days after the battle of Gettysburg. A younger brother, R. H. Lindsey, is a successful young member of the Fayette County bar.


2 Mr. Watson was born at Canonsburg about 1809, graduated at Jeffer- son College in 1828, and at once began the study of the law at Washing- ton under the direction of the distinguished Hon. T. M. T. McKennan. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1831, and was at once taken into partnership with his preceptor, who then represented this district in Congress. This partnership continued until William McKennan, the son of his preceptor (now circuit judge of the United States for the Third Circuit), came to the bar, to wit, in June, 1837. He then continued the practice without a subsequent partnership until his death at his resi- dence in Washington on April 15, 1875. The minutes of the bar meeting held the next day after his death very correctly state :


" As a lawyer he was clearheaded, painstaking, laborious, full of zeal for his clients, courteous to his opponents, pleasant and affable in his


Hon. J. Kennedy Ewing .- There was then a va- cancy in the office of president judge, whereupon, on Nov. 19, 1864, J. Kennedy Ewing, the only son of Hon. Nathaniel Ewing by his first wife, 1864. the daughter of Justice Kennedy, was ap- pointed and commissioned by Governor Curtin to fill the office until the next general election in 1865. His associates for his short term of service were James G. Hart and Thomas McCarroll, Esqs., and the manner in which his duties were discharged was satisfactory to the bar and suitors.3


At the general election Oct. 10, 1865, Hon. J. K. Ewing and Hon. S. A. Gilmore were the candidates for the office, the latter being successful, his next term, the third for which he was commis- 1865. sioned, to begin on the first Monday of De- cember, 1865. But after that date the first term of the courts for Washington County was in February, 1866, before which latter date, however, to wit, on Jan. 25, 1866, an act of Assembly4 was passed, by which Wash- ington County was taken out of the old Fourteenth District, created in 1818, and with Beaver County made into a new district, called the Twenty-seventh. By the provisions of the act the Governor was to " ap- point and commission a gentleman of integrity, learned in the law, to be president judge of said district, who shall hold his office until the first Monday of December next;" and at the next general election a president judge was to be elected under the then Constitution and laws of the State.


Hon. B. B. Chamberlin .- For the new Twenty- seventh Judicial District, composed of the counties of Washington and Beaver, on Feb. 3, 1866, Hon. B. B. Chamberlin, of the Beaver County bar, 1866. was appointed and commissioned by Governor Curtin as president judge, to hold until the first Mon- day of the following December, by which time an elected officer would be chosen. He presided at the May and August terms, 1866.


Hon. A. W. Acheson .- At the general election of October, 1866, the competing candidates were Hon. Alexander W. Acheson, of the Washington bar, as the nominee of the Republican party, and Hon. B. B.


deportment to his brethren of the bar, while at all times and under all circumstances he was strictly honorable and upright. He was fond of his profession, few more so, but he had no ambition to make it a stepping-stone to office or preferment of any kind ; and although he pos- Bessed in a high degree the elements of personal popularity, he uniformly declined political honors, and would never consent to be an applicant or candidate for any office whatever. He would not even allow honors to be thrust upon him, preferring always to be and remain in the ranks of his untitled brethren."


His wife, a sister of D. T. Morgan, Esq., survived him, and he is repre- sented in the profession now by three sons,-David T., of Pittsburgh, James, New York City, and Wm. M., Pittsburgh.


8 Judge J. K. Ewing is still living at Uniontown, but his attention being given to business pursuits he is not in active practice. He is represented, however, at the bar of his native county by two promising sons, Nathaniel Ewing, Jr., and Samuel E. Ewing. 4 P. L. 1866, 1.


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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.


Chamberlin, who, though previously a Republican, had been placed on the Democratic ticket. Mr. Ache- son was elected, and on Nov. 15, 1866, was commis- sioned by Governor Curtin, and held his full term of ten years until succeeded by Judge Hart. His asso- ciates during his term were, first, James C. Chambers and John Farrer, Esqs. ; second, Dr. Thomas W. Bradley and John Scott, Esqs.


During the time of Judge Acheson another some- what important change was made in the judicial sys- tem. On Nov. 3, 1873, a new State Constitution was adopted in convention, which by the terms of 1874. the schedule went into effect Jan. 1, 1874.


Article V. of this Constitution related to the judiciary, and it was provided by


"SECT. 5. Whenever a county shall contain forty thousand inhabit- ants it shall constitute a separate judicial district, and shall elect one judge learned in the law, and the General Assembly shall provide for additional judges as the business of the said districts may require. Counties containing a population less than is sufficient to constitute sep- arate districts shall be formed into convenient single districts, or, if necessary, may be attached to contiguous districts as the General As- sembly may provide. The office of associate judge, not learned in the law, is abolished in counties forming separate districts, but the several associate judges in office when this Constitution shall be adopted shall serve for their unexpired terms."


There was no other material change made in the organization of the courts; the judges remained, and will probably long remain, to be elected by the people.


him. John was a merchant and trader in the West as early as 1784; Thomas came hither in 1786, and having a turn for military affairs became a commis- sary-general in the war of 1812. The brothers were of Scotch lineage, sons of George Acheson, an elder of the seceding congregation of Market Hill, County Armagh. David Acheson in his early life was much interested in politics, connected with the " Repub- lican" party of that day, representing Washington County in the Legislature in 1795, 1796, 1797, and 1804. Alexander W. Acheson was the second child of David by his second wife, Mary, daughter of John Wilson, Esq., who settled at Washington in 1789. He was born on July 14, 1809, at Philadelphia, where his parents resided for a time after their marriage ; was educated at Washington College, graduated in 1827, studied the law with William Baird, brother of Judge Baird, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1832. After a short time passed in the West he be- gan the practice of his profession in his native town, and with the exception of several terms of service as deputy attorney-general for Washington County, before by the act of May 3, 1850,8 the election of district attorneys by the people was required, and his term as president judge, he has never held any public office. At the end of his term he returned to the bar, and associated with his son, Markus C., and nephew, James I. Brownson, Jr. He is still in active practice as the senior member of the Washington bar, having been, either as lawyer or judge, for fifty years employed in the courts of justice of Wash- ington County.


The census of 1870 having shown that Washington County had a population of forty-five thousand six hundred and ninety, by the foregoing section she was entitled to be made a separate judicial district. Sec- tion XIII. of the schedule required the General As- sembly at next session after the adoption of the Con- Hon. George S. Hart .- At the general election in October, 1876, the competitors for the office of presi- dent judge were Hon. A. W. Acheson, on the Republican side, and George S. Hart, Esq., on 1876. the Democratic ticket. The latter gentleman was chosen and took his seat as president judge on the first Monday of January, 1877, which office he occupies at the present time. The paternal grand- stitution to designate the several judicial districts as required by this Constitution. Whereupon by the act of April 9, 1874,1 the Legislature created forty-three judicial districts, the twenty-seventh of which was to be composed of the county of Washington. And such is the number and composition of that district at this day. The time of the beginning of the judicial term has, however, been changed. Instead of the first Mon- , father of Hon. George Scott Hart was from Eastern - day of December, as of old, by the act of April 30, 1874,2 the term of all judges learned in the law is to begin on the first Monday of January next succeeding their election. Maryland, settling in Westmoreland County at an early day. His father was John Hart, born in West- moreland County, settled in Pittsburgh, and married a Miss Barr at that place, where, on July 29, 1824, the The terms of the associate judges, Dr. T. W. Bradley and John Scott, Esqs., expired the last day of November, 1876, and that office having been abol- ished by the Constitution of 1874, these gentlemen were the last to hold those positions in Washington - County. The president judge continued upon the bench, but alone. judge was born. On both sides he was of Scotch-Irish descent. The family removed to Washington in the spring of 1833, which afforded an opportunity to Judge Hart to be educated at Washington College, gradu- ating in September, 1842, with, as some of his class- mates, Caleb Baldwin, afterwards chief justice of Iowa, now deceased ; J. Kennedy Ewing, son of Hon. Hon. A. W. Acheson is the son of David Acheson, who emigrated from the County Armagh, Ireland, in 1788, and came directly to Washington, Pa., to join his brothers, John and Thomas, who had preceded N. Ewing, and at one time the president judge of the Fourteenth District, and Rev. Franklin Moore, after- wards a distinguished minister in the Methodist Epis- copal Church. In 1867 the latter gentleman, delivering


1 J'. L. 1874, 54.


2 Ibid., 118.


8 Ibid., 1850, 654.


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CIVIL AND LEGAL-PRESIDENT JUDGES-ASSOCIATE JUDGES.


the class history at the reunion after twenty-five years, described Judge Hart, then at the bar, as having been the Sir Philip Sidney of his class. After graduation he taught a short time in Virginia, then studied law with Hon. John L. Gow, now deceased, and was ad- mitted to the bar in August, 1846. At the same term of his admission he was appointed deputy attorney- general, succeeding Hon. A. W. Acheson in that office. After the office became elective he served a term of three years, beginning in 1850. In May, 1853, he acquired an interest in the Washington Ex- aminer, of which paper he was the principal editor till the close of 1856, from which time he was devoted exclusively to his profession. For ten years and two months he was continuously a member of the school board of Washington, acting as their secretary all that time, a fact always mentioned in his history in connection with another fact, that, being a bachelor, he has been much interested in the education of the children of other people.


There has thus been given in this chapter a sketch of the judicial history of Washington County from 1781, when, under the Constitution of 1776, her courts opened with a large number of justices upon the bench; again, under the Constitution of 1790, with a president judge learned in the law, his associ- ates soon reduced to two in number ; so continuing, the county with other counties in the Fifth, then the Fourteenth, then the Twenty-seventh Judicial Dis- trict, under the Constitution of 1838; and finally as a separate judicial district, as in the beginning, but with a single judge to administer the law, under the Con- stitution of 1874.


CHAPTER XIX.




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