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 89

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 89

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Christopher Bartholemew Mayer, the found - er of the Pennsylvania branch of the Mayer family, was born at Carlsruhe, Germany,

John L. Mayer

John Gardner Campbell.

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November, 1702, and came to this country in 1752. He was the grandfather of Rev. Dr. Lewis Mayer. He landed at Annapolis, Md., with his wife and four children, and did not tarry there long, but soon went to "Monocasy Station," or "Fredericktown," in the west- ern part of the province. It is supposed that it was his design to acquire land and settle his family in that fertile region, but he died in November, six months after his arrival in America, and was buried in the "Gottes- Oken" of the Lutheran Church of Frederick. town, on the 21st of November, 1752. After their father's death, the family dispersed. George Ludwig Mayer, the oldest son and the father of Rev. Dr. Lewis Mayer, quitted Fredericktown, Md., for Lancaster, Penn., where many of his descendants still live.

Christian Mayer (second of that name), founder of the Baltimore branch of the fam- ily, was born at Ulm in 1763, and came to this country in 1784 and settled in Balti- more, Md.

Mr. Mayer was a man of very great learn- ing in his profession -perhaps no one his superior in that respect. His arguments were close and thorough. His citation of authori- ties was voluminous; but it seemed necessary for him thus to cite them because of that keen analytical power he possessed of resolving the cases into principles, and then leading the mind to the particular point by a line of thought that distinguished his case from all apparent analogies. He was, moreover, a scholar in the true sense of that word; an in. defatigable student in branches of learning outside of his profession, and he could adorn his argument with apt quotations and illus- trations drawn from such other sources. He possessed, too, a knowledge of business, a practical mind, and, by close attention and prudence, amassed a handsome fortune. He died at his home in York, August 17, 1874.

JOHN GARDNER CAMPBELL, ESQ.

John Gardner Campbell was born in Chanceford Township, York County, in 1812. His grandfather, John Campbell, came to this country from the north of Ireland early in the last century. He was then but a young man, and commenced life as a merchant in Philadelphia. After several years' experi- ence in that business, he removed to a farm in Lancaster County, and subsequently to York County, where he purchased a large tract of land about three miles from Brogue- ville, in Chanceford Township. He had, pre- vious to his departure for America, been a member of the Church of England, and hence his descendants in this county have been con-

nected with the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was a prominent citizen of Chanceford, and died on his farm at an advanced age. His son, James Campbell, was ten years old when his parents emigrated to York County, and, upon the death of his father, succeeded to the estate and followed for a number of years the occupation of farming. He married Rebecca Gardner, of Hellam Township, and soon after became the possessor of the Gard- ner farm. This farm is situated in Hellam Township, and is the site of Campbell Sta- tion on the Frederick branch of the Penn- sylvania Railroad. They had three sons and one daughter, of whom a son, Clement, is living in Nebraska, and the daughter, Caro- line, resides in the borough of York.

John Gardner Campbell was a member of the York bar distinguished for his learning and ability. as well as for his extensive prac- tice. He grew to manhood in the country, and received the rudiments of his education and tanght school there. He entered the York County Academy, and acquired a thor- ough English education and became profi- cient in the classics. He studied law with his uncle, John Gardner, a prominent lawyer of his day, and was admitted to the bar on the 17th of May, 1836. He soon took a prominent position at the bar, by reason of his industry and capabilities, and was recog- nized as one of the most learned and efficient of its members. He was possessed of enter- prise as well as devotion to his profession, and took part in the organization of insti- tutions for the benefit of the public. The York County Mutual Insurance Company, the oldest company of its kind in York County, was organized at his office. He was one of its charter members and was its secretary for many years. He assisted in the organization of the York County Bank and was for some years its president, and exhibited in that capacity eminent abilities as a financier. He was a forcible writer, and was for a time one of the editors of the People's Advocate, a newspaper published in the borough of York. There were associated with him in this enterprise Dr. W. S. Roland and G. Christopher Stair. The original character and interesting material of this paper under such management was a marked feature of that day. Mr. Campbell, in addition to the grasp of intellect which made him noted among his professional brethren, was gifted with a mind of uncommon versatility. He was a voluminous reader; everything that came within his reach was absorbed by him, and retained by a memory unexcelled by that. of any one. His conversation was entertain-

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ing by reason of this vast fund of informa- tion, and he was a great favorite with stu- dents, while in the recesses of his capacious mind were stored not only that practical and scientific knowledge that served him in mat. ters of business, but all these curiosities of literature that give zest to conversation. Apt quotation and illustration sparkled through all he wrote. Arguments in his paper books were not the dry things they are in others' hands, but they are compositions that would bear publication. Some of his cotemporaries were inspired to contest the palm with him, and John L. Mayer and Thomas E. Cochran, Esqs., were his competitors in this novel species of legal disputation. Mr. Campbell married in York, in 1845, Sarah M. Spang- ler, daughter of Zachariah Spangler, for- merly sheriff of the county. They had four children: one deceased in infancy, Helen (wife of J. G. McDowell), Florence and Dora.

HON. THOMAS E. COCHRAN.

Mr. Cochran was the oldest son of Dr. Richard E. Cochran, of Columbia, and was born at Middletown, New Castle County, Del., March 13, 1813. His early educa- tion was thorough, including a full classical course. In 1824 his father and family moved to Columbia, He remained in Col- umbia until 1834, when, at the earnest solici- tation of Thomas C. Hambly, he came to York to edit and publish the Republican; of which he had charge until 1853, though he con- tinued to contribute valuable editorial matter for publication to the literary and political world.

During his editorial life he became a stu- dent at law with the late Hon. Charles A. Barnitz, and was admitted as a member of the York County bar on December 6, 1842. In 1840 he was elected to the State senate, representing York and Lancaster Counties in the sessions of 1840-41-42-43. A writer of that day in referring to Mr. Cochran as sen- ator, says:

" Mr. Cochran is inferior in point of native talents to no man in the senate. This is ad- mitted by his contemporaries, who are compe- tent judges in these matters, for they speak of that which ' they themselves do feel.'"

In 1856 Mr. Cochran, was the anti- Buchanan candidate for canal commissioner,. : and, in 1860, was elected auditor-general and served until 1863. In 1872 he was a member- of the State constitutional convention, in which body he was chairman of the commit- tee on "railroads and canals " and a mem- ber of the committees on "accounts and expenditures " and on "printing and bind-

ing." In 1860, 1864, 1868 he was a mem- ber of the Republican National Committee. Besides these public positions of honor, he performed the duties of many offices of trust, such as school director, etc. As an attorney, he distinguished himself not only in the courts of York County, but in various parts of the State. He was next to the oldest meraber of the York County bar, Hon. R. J. Fisher being his senior. In 1860 he asso- ciated with him in the practice of law William Hay, Esq., his former law-student, who continued to be his partner until the time of his death.

In early life he connected himself with St. John's Episcopal Church and served as vestryman for many years. On April 14, 1853, he married Miss Barnitz, a daughter of Gen. Jacob Barnitz, who was his bosom companion until the time of her decease, which occurred about four months before his decease.

While Mr. Cochran was a prominent states- man and politician, and was one of the first to espouse the cause of the Republican party in this State, he was also prominently identi- fied in various Christian and charitable enter- prises. For many years he was a member of the York County Sunday school Executive Committee.

He possessed great industry, energy and firmness of character, and was not easily driven from the course he believed to be right, nor forced from it when he deter- mined that it was the path duty pointed out. And his judgment seldom led him astray.

He left to survive him a son, Richard E. Cochran, Esq., a practicing member of this bar, and three daughters .*

HON. JEREMIAH S. BLACK.

Jeremiah S. Black was born in Somerset County, Penn., January 10, 1810, and re- ceived the usual education in the schools of the neighborhood of his home. His father, Henry Black, was for twenty years an asso- ciate judge of that county, was a member of the State legislature and a representative in Congress. His mother was born in York County, and was a daughter of Patrick Sul- livan, who came to this county about the year 1790; was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and was married in York County, whence he removed to Somerset. The future 'chief justice and statesman very early evinced a predilection for the higher order of literature and classics, and such studies prepared him for the exercise of that forcible rhetoric so eminent a characteristic of his

* York Daily.

2. S. Bank ISBlack

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subsequent literary and forensic disputations. He studied law with Chauncey Forward, Esq., of Somerset, and was admitted to the bar be- fore he was of age. When Mr. Forward was elected to Congress his business was iu- trusted to Mr. Black, who was soon after ap- pointed deputy attorney general for Somerset.

In 1842, at the age of thirty-two years, he was appointed by Gov. Porter, president judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, succeeding the Hon. Alex- ander Thomson. He very soon attained dis- tinction as a judge, and became known throughout the commonwealth as one of its judicial lights. The law was then, as it were, in a transition state in many of its features, and the symptoms of those innovations which subsequently occasioned almost acrimonious controversy on the elective supreme bench, had begun to manifest themselves. In 1851, under the judiciary amendments to the con- stitution, he was made one of the candidates by the Democratic Convention for the Su- preme Bench, together with John B. Gibson, then Chief Justice; Ellis Lewis, then Presi- dent of the Lancaster District; Walter H. Lawrie, of the district court of Pittsburgh, and James Campbell, late of the common pleas of Philadelphia. At the election he received the highest popular vote. On the opposite ticket were such men as William M. Meredith and Joshua Comley and Richard Coulter, the last-named being elected.

Judge Black became chief justice by lot, drawing the shortest term. In 1854, his term having expired, he was re-elected to the supreme bench over Hon. Daniel M. Smyser and Hon. Thomas H. Baird by a very large plurality vote. His judicial career, though brief, was distinguished ; his decisions, con- tained in the state reports from Fourth Harris to Fifth Casey, are cited as emphatic expositions of the law; and when he was obliged to dissent from the majority of the court, his opinions contained unquestionable law at the time. His loyalty to his great predecessor in the chief justiceship, as well as his own firm convictions regarding what were then acknowledged landmarks of the law, held them together against what they conceived to be innovations; and this posi- tion was maintained by him after his lament- ed and renowned colleague, Judge Gibson, was removed from the bench by death. These evolutions, however, take place in law, as well as in other human affairs; and the body of our jurisprudence received a deep impress from his terse and vigorous style, the clearness and logi - cal force of his reasoning, almost formulating a code on many subjects discussed by him.

Shortly after the 4th of March, 1857, while upon the supreme bench, President Buchanan appointed him attorney-general of the United States. In this position, upon which he en- tered with no other experience as a lawyer than the practice of Pennsylvania law af- fords, and no political experience other than may be gained by any citizen, he acquired distinction. In law, the great cases of the California land grants, involving in extent over 19,000 square miles, including a large part of San Francisco, the whole of Sacra- mento and other cities, and in money $150, - 000,000, called into exercise not only the le- gal ability, but the professional skill of the attorney-general, resulting in a great triumph of justice over a most stupendous fraud. This laid the foundation of his national rep- utation as a lawyer, and secured that mar- velous success that attended his subsequent professional career.

In statesmanship, during that trying period of our country's history, there devolved upon him the most onerous duties. He was the principal adviser of the President, who was a man of high intellectual ability, but who, on account of the warring elements of his cabi. net, was compelled to lean his arm upon his attorney general for support. Upon the res- ignation of Gen. Cass, Mr. Buchanan ap- pointed Judge Black secretary of State. The events of the closing months of that admin- istration are memorable, and the action of the cabinet has been but recently revealed. The course of Judge Black has been vindicated by the documents prepared under his own hand or supervision, and the legal and con- stitutional status of the government and its powers, in case of secession as then ex- pounded, and the wisdom of the deter- mination of the many intricate questions aris- ing in that crisis, have been sustained in the light of subsequent events.

During the earlier portion of that admin- istration, the great struggle between the North and the South for the occupation of the ter- ritories under existing institutions culmi - nated. The Lecompton constitution and other troublesome matters raised issnes that severed the dominant party. The great champion of territorial rights, Stephen A. Douglas, had announced doctrines on behalf of the party which the attorney-general, en- tering that arena, showed to be unsound. It was in that controversy that Judge Black first attracted the attention of the people of the United States to that keen power of logic and force of rhetoric which have made him so famous in polemics.

At the close of Mr. Buchanan's adminis-

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tration Judge Black was nominated for the supreme bench of the United States. but, in that crisis, and in the midst of the politi- cal excitement thereby occasioned, it was not acted upon. He was subsequently appointed reporter of the supreme courts, and pub- lished two volumes: First and Second Black.

At the close of Mr. Buchanan's adminis- tration he became a resident of York, and participated in the trial of some local causes.

The career of Judge Black after his retire- ment from public life was unexampled in the line of professional success as a lawyer. His name is associated with greater cases and larger fees than that of any American lawyer who preceded him, in the highest tribunal of the land or in local courts. The war gave rise to a class of cases which, strange to say, involved the fundamental principles of lib- erty, the struggles for which had been handed down to us from a past age, and which, it was presumed, had been settled a century before. The cases of citizens of the repub- lic, Blyew, McArdle and Milligan, have made the state trials of the United States of America more illustrious than those of Great 'Britain, for they arrested in this land the encroachment of a government, Republican in form, upon the absolute rights of individuals, when the excitement of the hour seemed to obscure the better judgment of those in power. They established the judiciary as truly the bulwark of liberty.

The case of Blyew arose under the Civil Rights' Bill. The defendant had been sen- tenced to death by a Federal court in the State of Kentucky, but the prisoner, for whom Judge Black appeared, was released by the supreme court. The case of McArdle arose under the Reconstruction acts. The defendant was held under a conviction by a military commission, and under the argument of Judge Black would have been released had not Congress ousted the jurisdiction of the supreme court. The prisoner was then released by the government. The case of Milligan was a trial and conviction before a military commission. He, too, was under sentence of death, approved by the president of the United States. The case came before the supreme court on a writ of habeas corpus. The argument of Judge Black, in this last mentioned case, is one of the most memora- ble of forensic efforts before any tribunal. The case is among the most celebrated of State trials, and its result, the discharge of the prisoner, maintained inviolate the con- stitution of the United States.

In 1876, the year that completed the cen- tenary of American independence, a presi-

dential election took place, the contest over the result of which shook the pillars of our electoral system. By an electoral commis- sion, mutually agreed upon by the contest- ants, the question of the result in the several disputed States was determined by a majority of the commission according to their polit- ical predilections. Judge Black, as one of the counsel for Mr. Tilden, contended with great force against the fraudulent returns which were counted. His effort in the South Carolina case is a masterpiece of bold invec- tive.

Judge Black occupied no official position after leaving the cabinet, except as a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of Penn- sylvania, 1872-3, as a delegate at large. His appearance in that body attracted the marked attention of his fellow members, as did also every word he uttered there, not only in de- bate but in ordinary conversation. Though he participated but little in its public dis- cussions, he largely influenced the action of the convention on many important subjects, notably those upon the restrictions on rail- road corporations and upon legislative job- bery. Afterward he took the part of the people before the judiciary committees of the legislature against monopolies, as mani- fested in the combinations in defiance of the new constitution, and contended for the power of the general assembly to check their rapac- ity. In the matter of legislative jobbery, the offense of private solicitation under which the conviction of prominent lobbyists has. been secured, was owing to him, as well as in a great degree the limits put upon the legislative power.

Judge Black acquired fame as a contro- versialist on many subjects connected with his own political experience on questions of political reform and the redress of wrongs. He also entered the arena in defense of Chris- tianity, with a force of logic that the cham - pion of the attack has not been able to answer.

His colloquial powers were of the highest order. It has been regretted that there has been no Boswell to transcribe his many wise and witty sayings, the strength and drollery of his observations, his readiness of forensic repartee, nay, his deep philosophy. The table talk of many of the literati, such as Coleridge, for instance, has been given to the world, and the coteries of France, where the great Franklin appeared with his practical wisdom, have been celebrated by historians. Are there not many observations of our own savan that may yet be profitably gathered for publication ?

yours truly John West M. &

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MEDICAL HISTORY.

Judge Black enjoyed the powers of his intellect to the last. He seemed to be in the enjoyment of sound health when stricken by the hand of death at his beautiful home, " Brockie," near York. He died, August 19, 1883. His high character, his open hearted- ness and wealth of intellectual resources have made his memory sacred among the people of his adopted home, the fame of which has been enhanced by his presence.

MEDICAL HISTORY .*

V ERY little is known of the very early medical history of York County. Nevertheless the first physicians, having re- ceived their education in Europe, were well educated, skillful in their profession and oc- cupied prominent positions in the affairs of the county, and several became prominent in the early medical history of the United States. The first physician in York, of whom we have any records, was Dr. David Jameson. He came from Scotland, where he was born and received his medical education, and lo- cated in York to practice his profession among the first inhabitants of the town. During the French and Indian wars in 1756, he offered his services in defense of the colonies, and was commissioned a captain, and left his profession to share the dangers on the frontier. He was wounded in an engagement with the Indians near Fort Lyttleton, at Sideling Hill, on the road from Carlisle to Pittsburg, and was left for dead on the field. He afterward discharged the duties of brigade major and lieutenant col- onel.

During the Revolutionary war he held the position of colonel. Notwithstanding his position in battle was that of a warrior, he also attended to the duties of surgeon, and at the battle of Kitanning, he dressed the wound of Gen. Armstrong, who was shot in the shoulder. He was a man of some wealth in those days and contributed liberally of his means to the support of his country. He was the father of Dr. Horatio Gates Jameson, who was born in York, in 1778, and succeeded his father in the practice of medicine at York, for a short time, and afterward removed to Baltimore, where he established himself per- manently in practice, founded and became president of the Washington Medical College,

and at one time health officer of the city. Dr. Jameson was celebrated for his surgical skill and knowledge, and also had a wide reputation for his successful treatment of cholera epidemic in Baltimore and Philadel- phia, (1793-98) and 1832, In 1835 he ac- cepted the presidency of the Ohio Medical College, and held the position until 1836, when he resigned and removed to Baltimore. In 1854 he again returned to York, to spend his last days among the scenes of his child- hood. He died while on a visit to New York City, to investigate cholera, which was rag. in the city at that time, in July, 1855.

While Dr. Jameson resided at Baltimore his brother, Dr. Thomas Jameson, practiced medicine in York, and in all important cases, especially those requiring surgical skill, Prof. Jameson was called from Baltimore in consultation. In 1850 he performed the first operation for ovariotomy attempted in York County on Mrs. Hoke, of Paradise now Jackson Township. The lady died during the operation. Dr. Jameson was a member of the American Medical Association; mem- ber of the philosophical societies of Berlin, Moscow, etc., and editor of the Maryland Medical Record, 1829-32. He was also the author of several medical works. Among these were two volumes on "American Domes- tic Medicine," 1817. "A Treatise on Chol- era," 1856, and "A Treatise on Yellow Fever, intended to prove the necessity of blood-let- ting in that disease," and "the non-contag- iousness of yellow fever."

Dr. H. G. Jameson, no doubt one of the ablest surgeons of his day. He took away for the first time in the world nearly the en- tire upper jaw (1830); in May, 1820, he ligated the external iliac artery; in 1823 he performed tracheotomy, the first in Baltimore; in 1824 he excised the cervix uteri (the first in Great Britain or America). He was the first in Baltimore to attempt ovariotomy. In 1831, while physician to the board of health, he obtained vaccine virus by vaccinating a cow. He was the preceptor of Profs. Smith and Gross, and was on the most intimate terms with these great surgeons. As he was born, raised and died while his domicile was in York County, practiced his profession here for some time, and claimed York as his home, we claim especially his history as part of the medical history of York County, and therefore feel justified in giving this ex- tended notice of perhaps the most eminent man York County has yet produced.

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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 89

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