USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 38
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Judge Addison was a scholar and learned writer. He published "Observa- tions on Gallatin's Speech," 1798; "Analysis of the Report of the Virginia As- sembly," 1800; and "Pennsylvania Reports," 1800. A great writer of that day has spoken of him as "an intelligent, learned, upright and fearless judge; one whose equal was not to be found in Pennsylvania." His charge to the grand jury during the Whisky Insurrection is a monument to his talents and worth. and one who remembers the political surroundings of that day cannot read it without being impressed with the fact that Judge Addison had fully his share of moral courage and stamina.
Judge Addison was succeeded on the bench by Hon. Samuel Roberts, who came from Allegheny county, and therefore little is known of him in West- moreland. He was president judge of the Fifth Judicial district, and held the position from 1803 to 1805. He presided in Greensburg at June term, 1803, beginning June 20, and for the last time at December term, 1805. At that time the judicial system of the state was remodeled by an act of the legislature of that year. The new district of the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Wash- ington, Fayette and Greene, was constituted the Fifth district, in which Judge Roberts continued to preside. Westmoreland was, for the first time, in the Tenth Judicial district, a position which it has held ever since. With this change, therefore, Judge Roberts' connection with Westmoreland county ceased, and since he belongs to another county we do not deem it necessary to write further of him in these pages. He came originally from Sunbury.
Judge John Young was born in a foreign land-in Glasgow, Scotland, July 12, 1762. He was a shining member of a very prominent Scottish family which was noted in Scotland for its learning, its aristocratic standing and1 nobility, and one branch of it was knighted before the reign of unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. He took the name John from his father and grand- father. He had three brothers respectively named Thomas, Douglass and William, and one sister narned Mary, all of whom were highly educated.
The father of Judge Young was a well-to-do merchant in Glasgow and few men of his day lived in greater affluence. He also gained a reputation for liberality and kind qualities, which, if tradition is to be depended upon, were inherited hy his son, the subject of this sketch. Perhaps from undue liberality he became financially involved in his later years. Still later he bailed his
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
brother William for a large sum of money, for which debt his property was sold, and he died shortly after this from anxiety, superinduced by his financial reverses.
At the time of his father's death Judge Young was a student at law in the office of the father of the renowned novelist, Sir Walter Scott. He relin- quished the study of law, and, first procuring places under the crown for his brothers, he emigrated to this country, reaching Philadelphia in 1780. It is said that he arrived with but one English shilling in his pocket. In Phil- adelphia he attracted notice by his fine bearing. He entered the office of Mr. Duponceau, who was an interpreter for the Philadelphia courts. In this office he became very useful, not only because of his rapidly increasing knowledge of the law, but because of his eminent talents as a French scholar. Afterwards he entered the office of Judge Wilson and read law diligently with him until his admission to the bar, which was January 8, 1786. After his admission he remained for some years practicing in the eastern counties, mainly in Phila- delphia.
It must be remembered that Eastern Pennsylvania was settled largely by ·Germans and that the western part of the state was settled largely by Scotch- Irish. This induced Mr. Young to remove to Westmoreland county, which he did in 1789. Greensburg had recently been made a county seat and he settled here and in a short time gained a large practice in this and adjoining counties, because of his ability and his high character for integrity. For many years after this, however, he was frequently called to Philadelphia and Balti- more.
He was a member of the Swendenborg church, and this belief often brought him into association with Mr. Francis Bailey and his cultured family, where he became acquainted with Miss Maria Barclay, who, we believe, was an orphan, and to whom he was married in 1794. With her he lived for many years and they had a family of three sons and five daughters. After his wife's death he contracted a second marriage with Satira Barclay, a cousin of his former wife, and by her he had two children -- a son and a daughter.
He was always known as a man of fine ability and great force of character. In 1791 he, in company with an old Revolutionary soldier named Stokely, was appointed a delegate to the first meeting in Pittsburgh called to consider troubles then rife, concerning an act of Congress which had been passed in March of that year, imposing a duty upon spirits distilled within the United States. This law was called the "Excise Act," but the difficulties arising from it have been written of here as the Whisky Insurrection. His participation in these ne- gotiations added largely to his popularity and greatly increased his clientage.
In 1790, 1792 and 1793 the Indians were very troublesome in the western part of Pennsylvania and Mr. Young is known to have served two or three terms of two or three months each in a military capacity in defending the early settlers against incursions. He had, however, no military predilections, his .enlisting being only a question of duty.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
He continued in the practice of law with great success until the year 1805. In that year a vacancy occurred in the president judgeship of the Tenth judicial district, then composed of the counties of Westmoreland, Armstrong, Somer- . set, Cambria and Indiana. Thomas Mckean was then governor of Pennsyl- vania. There were, of course, many applicants from these counties for the position of judge, but John Young because of his integrity, firmness and legal erudition, was appointed, though the governor said, with what was perhaps at that time pardonable dislike, that he did not like his religion, but had the utmost confidence in the man. Judge Young's commission was dated at Lancaster on the first of March, 1806, and he held office until the latter part of 1836, a period of thirty and one-half years, when having reached the age of life when most men wish to retire from its active duties he resigned his commission and re- tired to private life.
When he was appointed to the bench his learning and ability as a lawyer were so great that even in that age, when money was extremely scarce, it is said that his income from his practice was usually over $5,000 a year, and as a mat- ter of course he was slow to relinquish it for the judgeship, which then paid but a few hundred. At that time he was generally employed in all the larger cases tried in the several courts in this and adjoining counties. There is one case of which we have knowledge where his superior education was greatly displayed and stood him in good stead. It was a case involving the right of land upon which the Roman Catholic church and monastery near Beatty's station now stands, the dispute being between the secular and the regular clergy. H. H. Brackenridge, Esq., afterwards Justice Brackenridge, was employed on the other side. He had been educated for the ministry and on the trial there was a great display of ecclesiastical learning. The bulls of the Pope and the decrees of the council were read in the original Latin and explained with ease and ac- curacy, and the exact extent to which canon law was acknowledged by the common law and the statute law was thoroughly discussed. Judge Young was at this time regarded as the best special pleader at the Western Pennsylvania bar. In criminal court it is said that he nearly always leaned towards the prisoner on account of a kindness of heart which has been referred to hereto- fore. In all cases he tempered justice with leniency.
Judge Young survived his resignation a few years, dying in Greensburg, October 6, 1840. His remains are now lying near Greensburg in a burying ground known as the old St. Clair cemetery.
It is said that Judge Young was a master of seven languages, and one or two of these at least were acquired when he was quite advanced in years. He wrote and translated Latin with perfect fluency, and was equally proficient in the French language. At one time while he was on the bench a Frenchman named Victor Noel was arrested and confined in jail in Somerset county for the murder of a man named Pollock, from Ligonier valley. Pollock was a merchant and had been going east with a large amount of money to buy goods, when he was waylaid by the Frenchman and murdered for his money. Judge Young ex-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
rained the indictment and the whole process of trial to the prisoner in French. wild, after his conviction, sentenced him to be hanged in "the polite and polished language of his native land."
The residence of Judge Young in Greensburg was on Main street, opposite the present location of the Methodist church building. From this place he dis- pensed charity with a lavish hand and there received his friends and indeed all travelers who came, with the most kindly and amiable disposition. An excellent portrait of Judge Young was painted by the renowned artist Gilbert Stuart, who also painted the famous portrait of Washington known as the "Stuart Pic- ture."
After the resignation of Judge Young, Thomas White, Esq., an Indiana county lawyer, was commissioned judge of this district, it then being composed of the counties of Westmoreland, Indiana, Armstrong and Cambria. His com- mission was dated December 13, 1836. Early in 1837 it was read in the West- moreland county courts and he began his work on the bench. He presided at practically all the courts held in Westmoreland county until 1847, when Jere- miah M. Burrell was appointed and commissioned his successor.
Judge White had read law with the celebrated William Rawle, of Philadel- phia, a gentleman well known in the legal annals of our state, and commenced the practice of the law in Indiana in 1820 or 1821, when he was but twenty-one years of age. He rapidly obtained a good practice. He was also engaged ex -. tensively in business, being among other things the agent of George Clymer, who owned great tracts of land in Indiana county. Judge White lived many years after retiring from the bench, and served during the war of the rebellion as one of the commissioners of the well-known "Peace Convention," which met at Washington.
On the expiration of Judge White's commission, Francis R. Shunk, gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, appointed Jeremiah Murray Burrell, of Greensburg, to the vacancy. He was born near Murryville, in Westmoreland county, his father being Dr. Benjamin Burrell, who removed to Westmoreland from Dauphin county. His mother was a daughter of the renowned Jeremiah Mur- ray, Esq. He was the only son, and his parents being wealthy, gave him a thorough education. He was graduated at Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, and read law with Richard Coulter, who afterwards went on the supreme bench of the state, and is mentioned in another part of this work. Mr. Burrell was admitted to the bar July 14, 1835. Some years after that he be- came the owner and editor of the Pennsylvania Argus, an avocation not un- common for active, energetic members of the bar in that day. He was a staunch Democrat, and made his paper bristle with the doctrines of his party. In the great campaign of 1840, the "Log Cabin campaign," the hottest in the history of national politics, he established a great name as a writer. He not only made a state reputation, but some of his articles on political topics were answered by Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune, this giving him a still wider fame. In the campaign of 1844 he was one of the most eloquent speakers-
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and writers in Pennsylvania in behalf of James K. Polk, and in debate was pitted against Thomas Williams and other great orators of that day. He was after this elected to the state legislature, where he distinguished himself as a leader of the house. It is said that no man in the state in his day could speak more eloquently than he.
The late Major William H. Hackey, who was contemporaneous with Judge Burrell, delighted to tell a story illustrative of the latter's splendid oratory. A large outdoor Democratic convention was being held in Pittsburgh in 1844. The addresses were made from the portico of the Monongahela house, but the crowd was so dense and enthusiastic that the speakers could not be heard. Finally Burrell, then twenty-nine years old, was introduced and in loud clear tones readily made himself heard by all the surging multitude. Some one, caught by his eloquence, inquired of those around him who the speaker was. "I told him," said the major, "with all the home pride I could muster, that the eloquent speaker was J. M. Burrell, of Greensburg, the most gifted young ora- tor in Pennsylvania." Very soon, as the major said, the audience was quieted down and listened to his address with enraptured admiration till he had fin- ished speaking.
At that time in Pennsylvania judges were appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. When the chief executive sent Mr. Burrell's name to the senate, so bitter had been many of his contests in the legislature, that the senate refused, doubtless on political grounds, to confirm the nomination. After the legislature adjourned Governor Shunk commissioned him and he imme- diately assumed the duties of the office. The question as to whether the gov- ernor had this power was widely discussed in Pennsylvania. There had been several legal expositions of parallel cases under the constitution of the United States, which in its method of filling certain vacancies was identical in lan- guage with that of the Pennsylvania constitution of 1838. These expositions of opinion had been given by William Wirt and Roger B. Taney, both attor- ney generals, and the latter afterwards chief justice of the United States. Upon these opinions Governor Shunk based his right to make the appointment.
The record of the court of common pleas has this minute: "Monday morn- ing, 24th May, 1847, Jeremiah M. Burrell appeared upon the bench and pre- sented his commission from the Governor of Pennsylvania, dated 27th March. 1847, appointing him President Judge of the Tenth Judicial District of Penn- sylvania, composed of the counties of Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong and West- moreland."
After carefully weighing the different opinions, it was deemed advisable to vacate this appointment, and the governor nominated Hon. John C. Knox, of Tioga county, for the position. His nomination was promptly confirmed by the senate. Judge Knox thereupon began his work on the bench May 22, 1848, Judge Burrell becoming a practicing lawyer in the bar. In 1850 the constitution of the state was so amended that the judgeship became an elective office. It is highly creditable to Judge Burrell that when this new law went
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
into effect he was the one man in the district who, in the popular opinion, was. pre-eminently above all others fitted for the position. His nomination fol- lowed and resulted in his election in 1851.
His new commission was presented in Westmoreland county and read on February 16, 1852. He filled the office in this district until 1855, when Presi- dent Franklin Pierce appointed him judge of the District Court of the United States for Kansas. Shortly after assuming the duties of this office he came to Greensburg on a visit, apparently in good health, but was suddenly afflicted with laryngitis, from which he died on October 21, 1856, after but a few days' illness.
Judge Burrell's early training was in the old school Presbyterian faith. When quite a young man he married Miss Anna Elizabeth Richardson, a wo- man of unusual beauty and accomplishments, who is yet living ( 1905). A few years after his marriage he built a handsome residence in Greensburg, which was surrounded by large grounds, most tastefully laid out. He was a man gifted with high social qualities, rare tastes and refinement, and was of a generous nature, passionately fond of his library and of music. Like the em- inent Chief Justice Gibson, he played with singular skill upon both the flute. and violin. As a judge, he lent dignity to and created a good impression in all the courts in which he presided. He was a full cousin to the mother of Judge Samuel A. and W. H. McClung, of Pittsburgh.
That he was a lawyer of large practice before going on the bench is evi- denced by our court records, which show that Judge Kimmell, of Somerset county, and Judge Agnew, afterwards chief justice of Pennsylvania, frequently came to Greensburg to try cases in which Judge Burrell had been engaged as counsel while a practicing lawyer, and was therefore disqualified to try. His early death was deeply regretted by both the bench and the bar.
When court met on the morning of May 22, 1848, John C. Knox, of Tioga county, appeared and was conducted to the bench by Judge Burrell, when a commission appointing Knox to the office of judgeship of the Tenth judicial district was read in open court. A perusal of the sketch of Judge Burrell, im- mediately preceding this, will explain his elevation to the bench.
Judge Knox was easily one of the most eminent lawyers who ever sat on the. bench in the Tenth judicial district, then composed of the counties of Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong and Westmoreland. He presided but a short time in West- moreland, for the new law of 1850 vacated his position, and the election of Judge Burrell, as above indicated, followed. In 1851 he therefore left the district, returned to his home in Tioga county and was at once elected judge of his district over Judge Buffington. In 1853 he- was appointed to the supreme bench to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the most eminent lawyer and jurist ever produced in Pennsylvania, Chief Jus- tice John Bannister Gibson. That the governor should select him to fill this position is of itself a sufficient eulogy of his character and legal attainments .. He filled the position with ability until 1857, when he resigned to become attor --
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ney general of the commonwealth under Governor Pollock. In 1861 he re- moved to Philadelphia to practice law. Unfortunately very shortly after this he was afflicted with softening of the brain, from which he never recovered, but spent the remainder of his days in the state asylum at Norristown, where he died about a quarter of a century after. More would be said of him in these pages were it not that he belongs properly to Tioga county.
Judge Joseph Buffington presided for many years in what was and is now termed the "old Tenth" district. He was born in the town of West Chester, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1803. He was of Quaker extraction, his an- cestors coming from the Friends or Quakers in Middlesex, England. His grandfather, Jonathan Buffington, was a miller near Chad's Ford, in Chester .county, during the Revolution. His father, Ephraim Buffington, kept an inn or tavern stand known as the "Whitehall," at West Chester, which in its day was a .celebrated hostelry. When Joseph Buffington was ten years of old, his father, in hopes of improving his fortune, moved west and settled on the Allegheny river, near Pittsburgh. During this journey, which, of course, was made in wagons, as Judge Buffington often related, he passed through Greensburg and stopped at the old Rohrer house, now the Null house. He also said that it was here for the first time that he saw a soft coal fire. A few years afterwards he · entered the University of Pittsburgh, and though he was not graduated, he was well educated. Afterwards young Buffington settled in Butler, Pennsylvania, and before studying law was an editor of a weekly paper called the Butler Re- pository, and in this he was associated with Samuel A. Purviance, who after- wards became eminent in the Allegheny county bar and was attorney general of the commonwealth under Governor Curtin in 1861. Buffington read law with Samuel Ayers, of Butler, and while a student was married to Catharine Mechling, daughter of Jacob Mechling, who, about that time, was in the Penn- ·sylvania senate. In July, 1826, he was admitted to the bar and began to prac- tice in Butler county. He only remained there about a year and then removed to Armstrong county, locating in Kittanning, where he resided continuously until his death. His industry, integrity and close application brought him the highest fruit of his profession. Like most lawyers of his day, he took an active part in politics. He was a member of the Anti-Masonic party in 1831, and served as a delegate to the national convention of that body in 1832, which met in Baltimore and nominated William Wirt for the presidency. He was several times nominated for offices, but his party being in the minority, he was not elected. In 1840 he became identified with the Whig party and took an active interest in the election of General Harrison, being a presidential elector.
During these years when he was engaged in the practice of the law, his work was not confined to Armstrong county, but spread over Clarion, Jefferson and Indiana, and sometimes he appeared in the Westmoreland county courts. In these counties he was connected with nearly all of the important land trials, and it is said that his knowledge of the law regulating this then very prominent branch of litigation was most accurate. In 1842 he was elected a member of
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Congress as a Whig in the district composed of the counties of Armstrong, Butler, Clearfield and Indiana. He was re-elected in 1844. Shortly after his retirement from Congress, his friend and fellow townsman, William F. John- ston, having been elected governor, appointed him judge of the Eighteenth judicial district, composed of the counties of Clarion, Elk, Jefferson and Ven- ango. This position he held until the office became elective in 1851, when he was defeated by Hon. John C. Knox, of whom we have previously spoken. In 1852 he was nominated by the Whig party for a place on the supreme bench of Pennsylvania. But the Whig party that year was defeated, the candidate for president being Gen. Winfield Scott, and Buffington went down with his party, the late Justice Woodward, of Luzerne county, being elected. During the same year President Filmore nominated him to be chief justice of Utah terri- tory. The great distance of Utah territory from his home led him to decline the proffered honor, though he was greatly pressed to accept it.
On the resignation of Judge Burrell as judge of the Tenth judicial district he was appointed to that position in 1855 by Governor Pollock, with whom he had served in Congress, and then began his connection with Westmoreland county. The year following he was elected for a term of ten years. In this contest he had no opponent, the opposition declining to nominate through the advice of James Buchanan, who was a personal friend of Buffington's and who was himself a candidate for president of the United States. In 1866 Judge Buffington was re-elected for another term of ten years. In 1871 he resigned from the bench, when declining health admonished him that his days of labor were nearly ended. Judge Buffington was undoubtedly one of the ablest law- yers who ever sat on the Westmoreland bench. He died in Kittaning on Sat- urday, February 3, 1872.
Judge James Addison Logan descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry and was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the Allegheny river, De- cember 3, 1839. His boyhood days were spent on the farm, on the river and at the country school in the neighborhood of his birthplace. After reaching the proper age he began an academic course at Elders Ridge academy, from which he was graduated in due course of time with the honors of his class. Upon completing his academic course he began the study of law in the office of Major W. A. Stokes, then a celebrated lawyer and counsel for the Pennsylvania Rail- road company at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Soon afterwards Major Stokes went into the army, and Mr. Logan entered the office of Hon. Harrison P. Laird. Under this preceptorship he finished his studies, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1863. With such lawyers as Henry D. Foster and Edgar Cowan in active practice in the courts in a rural county, the field for young effort was not inviting. Mr. Logan, however, immediately gained a prominent place at the bar.
In 1868, when Henry D. Foster contested the seat of Hon. John Covode in the national house of representatives, Mr. Logan was counsel for the respon- dent, and conducted the defence with such skill as to greatly extend his repu-
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