History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 88

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 88

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At the commencement of the Revolution Mr. Smith was distinguished as one of the warmest friends of our liberties.

In 1774 he was chosen a deputy from the county of York to attend a provincial meet- ing at the city of Philadelphia, which meet- ing began on the 15th of June, and was con- tinued by adjournments from day to day. Mr. Smith was one of those who were ap- pointed by this meeting, or rather "commit- tee for the province of Pennsylvania," to "prepare and bring in a draught of instruc- tions to the representatives in assembly met."

In 1775 he was elected a member for York County in the "Provincial Convention for the Province of Pennsylvania, held at Phila- delphia, January 23d, and continued by ad- journments from day to day to the 28th." In the same year he received a military honor, viz., the appointment of colonel.

In 1779 he was deputed by the committee cf York County "to join in a provincial con - ference of committees of the Province of Pennsylvania." The conference was held at Philadelphia, and began on the 18th of June and ended on the 25th of the same month.

*From Glossbrenner's History.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

In the same year (1776) he was elected a member of the convention for the State of Pennsylvania, which commenced their ses- sion at Philadelphia on the 15th of June and ended on the 28th of September, This con- vention framed the first constitution of the commonwealth. In the same year (1776) he was elected a delegate from Pennsylvania to serve in the Continental Congress, at which time he signed the Declaration of Indepen - dence.

Mr. Smith was likewise a member of con- gress in the year 1777-78. When congress sat in York, the board of war was held in his law office.

After the cessation of his congressional labors he continued to reside in York, devot- ing himself with great success to the practice of law.

In October, 1780, we find him a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Smith becoming burthened with a weight of years, and having a sufficiency of this world's goods, relinquished the practice of law in 1801.

An event happened in the autumn of 1805 which is much to be regretted, viz .: the de- struction of his office by fire. His books and papers of business, which were on the lower floor, were saved, but all his numerous private papers, which were in the upper part of the building, were destroyed. Among these were the records of the family and manu- scripts of his own, connected with the history of the times, and numerous letters from Ben- jamin Franklin, Samuel Adams and many other men distinguished in the Revolutionary history of our country. Mr. Smith corre- sponded, both during and after the Revolu- tion, with many of those patriots with whom he had been in intimate connection while a member of congress, etc. As their letters were destroyed, the burning of the office may be considered a public loss.

Mr. Smith employed his latter days in con- versation with his friends and in reviewing and re-perusing those works which had been the delight of his youth. In view of his present and increasing infirmities, he made his will April 25, 1806. He died at his house in York on July 11, in the same year, at an advanced age.

There is no small difference of opinion with regard to the age of Mr. Smith. His tombstone, erected by his son James in the yard at the English Presbyterian Church at York, states that he was ninety-three years old at the time of his death. Many of his surviving friends say that he could not have been so old, and place his age at about

eighty-seven; others say that he was not more than eighty-four or five. Two points, however, we have ascertained, viz .: that he was but ten years of age when he came to America, and was but twenty-one years of age at the time of his brother George's death. Supposing his age then to have been eighty- seven (a matter on which there is some doubt) he must have been born in 1719 and come with his father to America in 1729 and have lost his brother George in 1740, at which time he (James) had completed his study of the law. An obituary notice of Mr. Smith says, "He was the oldest advocate in York, and perhaps in Pennsylvania, for he had been in practice of the law more than fifty years." He could not but have been a member of the bar between sixty and sixty-five years.

Mr. Smith was remarkable for. an uncom- monly retentive memory, the strength of which did not seem to be impaired by age.

He was uniformly facetious and fond of anecdotes, which he always told with a happy manner. Possessing in a high degree that faculty of the mind which is defined by metaphysiciaus to be the tracing of resem- blances or analogies between distant objects, he often exerted it in the halls of justice, producing a wild and roaring discord from all within the reach of his voice.

Mr. Smith at different times had many law students. Among them may be mentioned the Hon. Robert Smith, who began his studies here but did not complete them, and who is the same gentleman that afterward became sec- retary of state under the United States Gov- ernment. David Grier, who practised law and died in York, was likewise a student of Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith left a widow and two out of five children surviving him; they are all now gathered to the house appointed for all living.

GEN. JOHN CLARK.

Gen. Clark was born about the year 1751, in Lancaster County Penn. When about twenty-four years old he entered the service of his country, and was distinguished dur- ing the war of the Revolution by his zeal in the cause of liberty.

Early in life Gen. Clark held a number of civil and military offices, the duties of all of which he faithfully discharged. Among other trusts committed to him during the Revolution was his appointment by Con- gress, February 6, 1777, as one of the auditors for the army under Gen. Washing- ton.

We have now in our possession a number of original copies of letters to Gen. Clark,

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from Gen. Washington, Gen. Green, and other distinguished officers of the Revolu- tion ; and from them we learn that Clark, was a familiar correspondent of the father of our country and of many of his illus- trious contemporaries.

Gen. Clark had just commenced the prac- tice of law* when the troublesome times of the Revolution came on, and receiving shortly afterward the appointment of aid-de- camp to Gen. Green, he abandoned his prac- tice and devoted his whole services to his country.

Some years after the termination of the Revolutionary struggle, Gen. Clark resumed the practice of law and continued in it until the time of his death, which was in the year 1819. On the 27th of December in that year he attended court and pursued his business as usual. In the evening of that day he went to bed at about half past eight o'clock, in his usual health and at nine o'clock on the same evening his race on earth was run. At the time of his death, Gen. Clark was sixty-eight years of age.

The following is a copy of a letter from Gen. Washington to Congress. We insert it as a better evidence of Gen. Clark's worth than anything we could say in eulogy of his character.

" Headquarters, Valley Forge, January, 1778.

"I take the liberty of introducing Gen. John Clark, the bearer of this, to your notice. . He en- tered the service at the commencement of the war, and has some time past acted as aid-de-camp to Major-Gen. Greene. He is active, sensible and en- terprising, and has rendered me very great service since the army has been in Pennsylvania, by pro- curing me constant and certain intelligence of the motions and intentions of the enemy. It is some- what uncertain whether the state of his health will admit of his remaining in the military line : if it should, I shall perhaps have occasion to recommend him in a more particular manner to the favor of Congress at a future time. At present, I can assure you, that if you should while he remains in York have any occasion for his services. you will find him not only willing, but very capable of executing any of your commands. Respectfuly,

GEORGE WASHINGTON."+

Gen. Clark left to survive him five daugh- ters: Mary, Harriet, Lavinia and Juliana, and another daughter married to Mr. George Bedinger, Shepardstown, Va., and one son, George Clark, who was living in York in 1834.

Gen. Clark was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity. The aprons worn by him as Master and Royal Arch Mason, were presented to the York Lodge by his surviving daughter, Miss Julianna Clark, in 1881, and in return, an appropriate present was made

by the lodge to her. His remains were buried in the churchyard of St. John's Epis- copal Church at York, where there is erected to his memory a handsome monument.

COL. DAVID GRIER.

David Grier was born in 1742, and was a son of William Grier, of Mount Pleasant Township, York County (now Adams). He removed to York, studied law with James Smith, and was admitted to the bar April 23, 1771. At the breaking out of the Revolu- tionary war, he was made captain of one of two companies raised by York County for a regiment. which was commanded by Col. Will- iam Irvine, and of which Thomas Hartley was lieutenant-colonel. This was part of the Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion raised under authority of Congress, January 4, 1776. He was commissioned January 9, 1776, and pro- moted major October 25, 1776. He was made lientenant-colonel of the Seventh Penn- sylvania Regiment, Continental Line, which regiment he commanded while Col. Irvine was prisoner, who had been captured at Three Rivers, in Canada, where, according to letters of Col. Hartley, "Capt. Grier and his men behaved with great gallantry and spirit." The Sixth Battalion, which became the Seventh Regiment of the line, returned to Carlisle from Ticonderoga, in March, 1777.

In September, 1777, he participated in the battles under Gen. Wayne, and was wounded in the side by a bayonet at Paoli.

Col. Grier practiced law after the war, and was a prominent citizen of York. He was a member of the General Assembly from the county in 1783-84, and a presidential elector at Washington's first election.

WILLIAM BARBER, ESQ.

William Barber was a descendant of the Barbers who were among the first settlers of Columbia. He was admitted to the bar of York County, March 2, 1793, and was an- pointed prothonotary of the court of co.n mon pleas in 1806. Mr. Barber, from his prominent position, was hell in high esteem by his contemporaries for his integrity and other estimable qualities.

DAVID CASSAT, ESQ.

David Cassat was born in 1768. He en- tered Dickinson College when under the presidency of the celebrated Dr. Charles Nes- bit, and was a classmate of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. After his graduation he came to York and studied law with John Campbell, beginning in the year 1791, and

*He had studied under Samuel Johnson, Esq, of York. +Glossbrenner.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

was admitted to the bar March 4, 1794, and soon acquired distinction as a lawyer. Mr. Cassat was a man of most excellent character, of the strictest integrity, and was held in high estimation by every one. He was thoroughly public spirited, and either led or supported every important enterprise that tended to increase the material interests of York. No man in York, during his day, was a stronger advocate of public education, and he spent much time in its support. In 1814 he became one of the charter members of the old York bank, and was chosen its first pres- ident, which position he held until his death. It was greatly through his enterprise that the York Water Company was organized, and he became its first president. He was a man of good judgment, keen discrimination, high moral character, and genial and affable man- ners. He won many friends, and had a large practice. He died May 28, 1824, at the early age of fifty-six years. His daughter, Isabella, was the wife of our late venerable townsman, Samuel Small, Sr. The library at the collegiate institute, from her father, is entitled the Cassat Library.

THOMAS C. HAMBLY, ESQ.

Thomas Carson Hambly is now the oldest member of the York Bar. He was born August 9, 1798, at Christiana Bridge, New Castle Co., Del. At the age of six years he moved to Wilmington where he remained thirteen years, and was educated at the acad- emy there. He removed to Pennsylvania, and went to Milton, Northumberland County, and there taught in the classical school of which Rev. Kirkpatrick was principal. He studied law with Samuel Hepburn, Esq., and was admitted to practice in January 1828. He removed to York April 1, of that year, and was for three years the editor of the Fork Republican, succeeding Samuel Wagner, Esq When Gov. Ritner was elected, he ap- pointed James Todd attorney-general, who appointed Mr. Hambly deputy for the county of York. At this period an exciting contest arose as to the site of the new court house, and he was employed as council for the party who favored its present location.

Joseph Small had been elected by the Whigs county commissioner, David Small was clerk of the commissioners. The matter was contested both in the courts and in the legis- lature.

In 1837 Edward Prigg and others came from Harford County, Md., and committed an act of kidnapping, in carrying off a negro woman from York County, which occasioned a correspondence between Mr. Hambly and

the governor of Maryland, and the latter and Gov. Ritner. Commissioners were sent from the legislature of Maryland and the contest continued until Gov. Porter was elected. The legislature of Pennsylvania passed a law authorizing Prigg to appear at the York county court and surrender himself on his own recognizance. Mr. Hambly tried the case on the part of the commonwealth and convicted Prigg. The State of Maryland ap- pealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The council were the attorney gen- eral of Maryland and Mr. Meredith, for Mary- land, and the attorney general of Pennsyl- vania, and Mr. Hambly for Pennsylvania. The judgment was reversed, the Court declar- ing the law unconstitutional .*

In 1840, a contest arose in the Presbyter- ian Church which divided the congregation, and even families, between the old and new school parties. The church in York became divided. The old school party brought suit for the church property. Hon. Alexander Hayes, president judge of Lancaster presided; Mr. Hambly with C. Mason, Esq., tried the case for the plaintiff, to whom were opposed Messrs. Chapin, Durkee and Evans. The plantiffs lost the case and the supreme court affirmed the judgment, although the law upon which the court below ruled the case was de- clared to be erroneous. 1. Watts & Sergt. 1

Mr. Hambly was the projector of the York & Cumberland Railroad now the Northern Central Railroad from York to Hamsburg and procured its charter, and after three years of strenuous effort got the road built, and was its first president. He also with others succeeded in establishing the York Savings Institution. afterward the York County Bank. In 1851 he was tendered the position of minister to Brazil, but soon after went to California, where he remained fourteen years, and then returned to Philadelphia and has since lived in retirement there. Mr. Hambly is now in the eighty-sixth year of his age.

EDWARD CHAPIN, ESQ. 7 .

Edward Chapin, Esq., was for fifty-five years practicing attorney in the courts of York County, and for the larger portion of that period an acknowledged leader of the bar.

He was born in Rocky Hill, Conn., on the 19th day of February, A. D., 1799. On both sides he was descended from a long line of distinguished ancestry. His maternal great grandfather was the celebrated Jonathan Ed- wards, for many years president of the col-

$41 U. S. Reports, 539.

+By James W. Latimer, Esq.

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lege of New Jersey, and the ablest of Amer- ican theologians. His theological works have given him a world-wide reputation. His maternal grandfather was Jonathan Edwards, familiarly known as "the second President Edwards," who was president of Union Col- lege. Both were, like Mr. Chapin, graduates of Yale College. His father, the Rev. Calvin Chapin, D. D., was a recognized leader in the Congregational Church of Connecticut. He was president of Union College, and was the originator of and pioneer in the movement for the prohibition by law of all traffic in in- toxicating liquor. Of this cause he was the earnest advocate during his whole life. He did not live to see it successful, but his work has, since his death, produced and is now producing good fruit. The Chapin family descended from Deacon Samuel Chapin, the first of the name to emigrate from England to America. He came at a very early period, and settled in New England. His descend- ants, numbering over 4,000, assembled in Springfield, Mass., a few years since. Among them were representatives from all parts of the United States, many of them dis- tinguished in the professional, political, and literary walks of life. Rev Henry Ward Beecher and Rev. E. H. Chapin, D. D., of New York, President Lucius Chapin, of Be- loit College, Wisconsin. Hon. Solomon Foote, United States senator from Vermont, and Dr. J. G. Holland were present. Among the lineal descendants of Deacon Samuel Chapin is the Adams family of Massachusetts, which has furnished two presidents of the United States.

Edward Chapin, Esq., graduated at Yale College in the class of 1819. He read law in Connecticut, and after his admission to the bar there he resided for a time in Bingham- ton, N. Y., where his father had large landed interests. He removed to York in 1823, and was admitted to the York bar on motion of Walter S. Franklin, Esq., on April 10 of that year. He soon acquired a reputation as an able lawyer and profound thinker, and during his professional career was engaged in many of the most important causes tried in York and Adams Counties, especially those involving intricate and difficult legal questions. In the construction of obscure wills and deeds Mr. Chapin was especially skillful, and he pressed upon the courts his views on such questions with such force of logic and pro- foundity of legal learning, that even when unsuccessful, it was usually easier to reject his conclusions than to demonstrate their incor- rectness. Judge Fisher, who presided in the courts of York County during eighteen

years of Mr. Chapin's practice here, has said that his legal arguments were the ablest and most thorough and exhaustive he ever lis- tened to.

Mr. Chapin was an intimate personal friend of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, who practiced law in the adjoining county of Adams dnr- ing part of Mr. Chapin's professional life. They were each in the habit of obtaining the assistance of the other in causes of unusual magnitude or difficulty. One of the latest and most important causes in which they both appeared, was the Ebert will case, an issue framed to determine the validity of the will of Martin Ebert. Messrs. Evans & Mayer, of York, and Hon. Samuel Hep- burn, of Carlisle, appeared for the propounders

of the will; and Messrs. Chapin and Stevens for the contestants. It was a contest of intel- lectual and professional giants, to which the magnitude of the interests involved, as well as the reputation of counsel con- cerned, attracted great public interest. Though unsuccessful in winning his cause, Mr. Chapin's address to the jury has been pronounced, by competent judges who listened to it with delight, the most eloquent oratori- cal appeal ever made to a jury within their recollection.

Mr. Chapin was not what is called "a case lawyer." A close reasoner, a profound thinker, deeply versed in the principles underlying the science of law, his arguments contained few citations of authority and few references to text-books. He was always listened to, both in the county court and in the supreme court, with the respectful atten- tion his great professional learning and abil- ity deserved.

Mr. Chapin was a great reader. He pos- sessed a considerable knowledge of most branches of natural science. His learning and culture embraced a wide field.

As a legal practitioner his conduct was not only above reproach or suspicion of unfair. ness or impropriety, but he rejected as beneath him many of the methods resorted to by practitioners who are regarded as repu- table. He once told the writer of this sketch, and his life bore witness to the truth of the statement, that he never, during his whole professional life, solicited or sought directly or indirectly the business or employment of any individual. Content with the business that his talents and reputation brought, he used no artifice to extend his clientage.

He was the counsel of the York & Mary- land Line Railroad Company from the inception of that enterprise, and of the Northern Central Railway Company, into

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which it afterward merged from the time of his death.

Mr. Chapin's delight and recreation was in the cultivation of fruits, flowers and vege- tables. He was extremely fond of gunning, and his portly form, armed with a gun which few men could hold to their shoulder, was a familiar figure about Peach Bottom in the ducking season.

Mr. Chapin died on the 17th day of March 1869, leaving to survive him a widow, since deceased, a daughter, married to Edward Evans, Esq., and a son Edward, now a prac- ticing attorney at the York bar.

JOHN EVANS, ESQ.

John Evans, the only son and second and younger child of Joseph and Elizabeth Evans, was born May 9, 1800, in Hummels- town, Dauphin County. His father was a native of Dauphin County, a mill-wright by occupa- tion and a man of unusual intelligence. His mother was born in Lancaster County. His paternal grandfather was a Welshman. When he was about six years old his father died and his mother removed to Columbia. He there attended school several years. When about fourteen or fifteen years of age, he came to York and entered the York County Academy to prepare for Princeton. While he was in York his mother died, and the guardian to whom his property was intrusted having failed, his property was lost and he was unable to acquire a collegiate education. He then for a time obtained employment in the store of William Ness.

He read law with the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens under the instruction of David Cassat Esq., and was admitted to the bar August 3, 1822, James Buchanan, afterward presi- dent of the United States, being one of the committee of examination. He was married to Margaretta L., a daughter of Jacob Bar- nitz, December 31, 1833. He was at one time editor of the York Republican. He soon became a prominent member of the bar. He associated with him John L. Mayer, Esq., who had read law under his guidance, the firm name being Evans & Mayer. He took part in many of the most important cases of his time, practicing in the supreme and several of the adjacent county courts. He was one of the lawyers who defended the right of the new school branch of the Pres- byterian Church to the possession of the church property. For more than half a cen- tury he was regarded as an upright, indus- trious and intelligent member of the bar.

In addition to his professional duties he energetically assisted in any enterprise that

might prove of advantage to the citizens of the county and town, and was often entrusted with prominent positions by them. He was much interested in agriculture and live stock. When the York County Agricultural Society was organized in 1852, he was elected presi- dent of the board, and held that position continuously till his death. By his interest, liberality and industry he largely contributed to make that society the success it has proven to be.

He was for a long time president of the York Water Company. During his presidency, he used his power to veto every measure which tended to yield the stockholders more than a legal rate of interest, maintaining that all surplus gains should be used in cheapening the water rents, rather than enriching the stockholders. He was a member of the board of directors of the York Bank as well as counsel to the board. He died January 30, 1876, after but a few hours' illness. A son and daughter survived him.

The firm of Evans & Mayer were widely known as careful and experienced lawyers, reputed for learning and professional skill. Mr. Evans was for more than half a cen- tury conversant with the business of the courts, and most largely engaged in all the important transactions connected with the administration of justice in the county of York. Mr. Evans was a very highly re- spected citizen, and filled the measure of usefulness. He was possessed of large pub- lic spirit and great liberality, prompt to respond to every call of individual aid and contribute to any enterprise of general ad- vantage.

JOHN L. MAYER, ESQ.

John L. Mayer was born at Shephardstown, Jefferson Co., Va. (now West Virginia), on the 5th of August, 1810. After the usual education of youth at his home, he entered Yale College in 1830 and graduated in 1831. He studied law with John Evans, Esq., and was admitted to the bar of York County, February 20, 1834, and pursued diligently the practice of his profession in York for forty years. He was a partner of his precep- tor, John Evans, Esq., for many years, and the firm of Evans & Mayer held the largest. practice and tried the most of the causes in our courts during the partnership. After its. dissolution Mr. Mayer continued to hold a very large and lucrative practice. He gave no attention to politics and never held office.

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 88

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104