USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 37
USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 37
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 37
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 37
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 37
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" ANDREW FERRIER, " BENJAMIN WALLACE, " ROBERT GRAY."
"Personally appeared the above-said frecholders and assessor, and was duly sworn according to law before me, one of the justices, &c., for Cumberland County, March 11, 1786.
" Thos. BEALE."
At the end of the list for Milford for 1786 we have this amusing postscript : "N.B .-- The calculations in this book not to be depended upon." Also, "for collector, Robert Hogg- Charles Kenny." Fermanagh list is closed in 1785 with : " Frecholders recommended as Col- lectors, Christian Lintner and George Rea. The above return and valuation of property we-the subscribers, do declare to be just according to the best of our skill and understanding. Samuel Cowen, David Walker, Stunnel Sharron. (Ad- dressed :) Meses. John Jordan, Ephraim Steele, Commissioners, Carlisle, fay'd P. Mr. David Walker." The list of Greenwood for 1785 closed with the following: " January 12, 1786, Henry Toop-, Samuel Osborne and William
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JUNIATA COUNTY.
Cook Met and Laid the tax according to the Best of our Judghment, as Witness our hands." The amount of the taxables of the township of Greenwood for this year is nineteen thousand four hundred and thirty-two, which at three half-pence to the E, with the young men's tax amounts to the sum quoted on our township." The list of Lack for 1792 closes with a state- ment that the lands of Robert Croan is occupied by John Evans, that of John Cook's heirs by David Scot, that of John Glen by Matthew Ilunter, "who would not return the land to me," that of William Gray by Robert Gray, that of James Stackpole by John Silverthorn. " These Five Tracts above last mentioned is in possession of men that some of them is not able to pay the tax. We therefore submit your bet- ter judgment whether seated or not seated." At first sight it may seem trite, if not very bright, but in modern light all men will unite that it was not right to write John Right for Wright, as the assessors often did. There is often written after a man's name "Dead," "Gone," " Removed," " Absconded," " Left the twp.," "run away to Union County," and in the case of William Rorabacher, of Lack, in 1828, " left these United States and went to Centre County." To the names of single free- men there is often added "married," while one assessor is more specific and says " married late- ly" and " married some days ago." In 1791 Robert Taylor, of' Milford, "made no return when demand was made by assessor ; " and P'e- ter Shalenberger, of Greenwood, in 1826: "This return is doubtful -- perhaps one-half the land is withheld-it is valued higher on that ae- count." Frederick Dearing, in Lack, in 1823, is indorsed "Nobody can get a tax of him." After a man's name in Lack, in 1823, is: "Should pay no tax on account of two idiot children he has to support and an old man." William Webster, in Fermanagh, in 1806, is "supposed not to be able to pay." "Caleb Worley's Heirs by the last wife " are called upon for tax, in Walker, in 1829. In Green- wood, in 1806, two men are " unhealthy," and another is " judged not proper to tax." In 1803, in Fermanagh, there are " forty-four acres lost. by an old survey," and a tract of " Ridge land
not returned before," and " land omitted in the original warrant."
This bill is appended to the Greenwood list for 1819: " November 27th,-to four days and the half of three nights diligent labor, in assist- ing to lay on the following assessment and valuation-say, five dollars each." In 1797 a day's work on the roads in this township was rated at three shillings and six-pence. Matthew Rodgers, the assessor of Fermanagh for 1806, evidently believed in rotation in office, as, in re- turning the names of two freeholders, from which one was to be selected for tax collector, he gives this reason : " As neither of them has served in this township." The men named were Thomas Sturgeon and Andrew Mitchell. One assessor, in 1794, taxes land to " name un- known," and in 1803, " nobody in place of Jo- nathan Fry ;" and Isabella Lake lives on " Burchfield's old improvement," in Greenwood, in 1814.
Lots and houses first appear on the Ferma- nagh tax lists in 1794. These indicate Mifflin- town. Lots in Mexico are mentioned in 1814. In 1820 John S. Blair, a cooper, who kept a tavern in Mexico, owned a "house and lot in Mifllinburg." This now extinct, but once rival of Mifflintown, will be noticed elsewhere. Mifflin County made an effort to collect the tax-lists and record them in large blank-books. They are not complete ; some of the original lists seem to have been then already missing, while some original ones still existing were overlooked. On the list of 1805 for Milford we find this facetions indorsement : " Recorded, Angust 10, 1822, by E. Banks, at the quiet and peaceful desk, while the duelists, Cummings and MeDuffie, are shedding each other's blood."
Of all the assessors of the old days, John MeGeary, postmaster, in-keeper and justice of the peace at Thompsontown, certainly was the most observing and minute in details. In his list for 1822 he describes one man as having a " old gray horse blind of one eye," valued at three dollars ; and another, " a poor, lame, blind old mare," valued at one dollar. His keen optic was equally " good for man or beast," for it took in " an old soldier schoolmaster, and blind of an eye," valned at one cent ; and "an
:
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
old soldier blind of one eye, and sometimes weaves a little," valued at twenty cents. He also describes a " poor old weaver," two "turn- pikers," a " hunter " and "a drunken tailor of Thompsonton," while one man has " gone to the State of Ohio," another's land is " lost by court. action," and to sum up his virtues to the infor- tunate, he omits altogether the musical cognomen of John Nineteenhills, who figures on the lists, more or less, from 1810 to 1831. MeGary describes another tavern-keeper, Michael Holl- man, as an " inn-keeper and waterman."
McGary gives ns the only item of party polities on all the tax-lists. Ile says Lewis Evans is a " magistrate, but scorns to act under old Jo," and Jacob Hoffman is a " magistrate, but won't act nuder old Jo." He values the official profits of the office in each case at six cents. Finally, in assessing the " divorced wife of Dr. J. B. Smith," this facetious, hawk-eyed assessor gives us the only tax-list picture of domestic infelicity.
ELECTION DISTRICTS AND ELECTION -.- In the Provincial Conference held in Carpenter's Hall, June 18 to 25, 1776, there were two committeemen from the present JJuniata, viz. : John Harris and Hugh McCormick, Cumber- land having in all ten committeemen. They resolved that in reference to the resolution of the Continental Congress of May 15, 1776, " that the present government of this Province is not competent to the exigencies of our affairs ; " and they proceeded to name places and districts for an election on July 8th, to elect representatives from each county to meet and form " a new government in this province on the authority of the people only." They made three districts for Cumberland County,- the first to vote in Carlisle ; the second, in Chambersburg ; the third division was com- posed of the town-hips of " Tyrone, Tyboyne, Boa, Milford. Greenwood, Arnach. Lach. Perry, Fermanagh, to be heldat Robert Camp- ball's, in Tuscarora." William Brown. Alex- ander Morrow and James Taylor were ap- pointed judges to hold the election. No one could vote unless he first took an oath renoun- ring allegiance to Great Britain and favoring a five government. John Harris was one of the
eight delegates thus chosen for Cumberland to frame the first constitution for this common- wealth. Imagine the hosts of Perry, Juniata and Mifflin and part of Centre gathering at the house of Robert Campbell, at the Middle Mill, ou Licking Brook, to cast their ballot- ! It took some patriotism to make a journey of three or four days to swear in a ballot, and it was wise and well that there was a grist-mill at hand, so that the voters need not go home empty. Before they met the " Fourth of July " had already been born, but the news did not re- verberate among the mountains for some day> afterwards, though the spirit had been there with the foot-steps of the first white man, for, as Franklin wrote, " Liberty thrives best in the woods."
The act of June, 1777, provided that Cum- berland consist of four election districts,-the 'rst to be held at Carlisle ; the second at Cham- bersburg; the third at William McClure's, Esq., in Tyrone, for the townships of Tyrone, Ty- boyne and Rye (Perry County) ; the fourth, " the freemen of the townships of Milford, Greenwood, Annagh, Leck, Derry and Farma- nagh, at the house of James Purdy (Cuba Mills), in Farmanagh." Angusta, Pem's and Mahoney were the First District of Northumber- land and voted at Sunbury, Buffaloe, White Deer and Potter; the Third Distriet at Pfoutz's Mill, in Buffaloe. The act of March 23, 1778, provided that because " it hath been found very inconvenient to the freemen of the townships of Armagh and Derry to attend the annual elec- tion," they shall hereafter constitute the Fifth District, and meet at the house of Arthur Buchanan (Lewistown), in said township of Derry. An act of March 29, 1779, was to as- certain the number of taxable inhabitants in each county of the State; and the act of Sep- tember 21, 1779, appointed representation in the A-embly according to this number of tax- ables. The act of September 20, 17so, pro- vided that where it had - been found very inconvenient " for the people to meet at James Purdy's, " that henceforth the freemen of the Fourth District shall meet at the house of Thomas Wilson ( Port Royal), in the town-hip of Milford." The act of September 13, 1785,
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JUNIATA COUNTY.
was " to reduce into one act" the various pro- visions relating to elections. It provided for four districts in Cumberland, the formation of Franklin County having taken away part of the territory,-the First District to vote at Carlisle ; the Second for Perry, at the same place above given ; " the freemeu of the townships of Greenwood, Fermanagh, Leck and Milford, being the Third District, shall hold their election at the house of Thomas Wilson, in the township of Milford aforesaid ;" and Derry, Armagh and Wayne, being the Fourth Dis- triet, at the house of Arthur Buchanan. The act of September 19, 1786, made no changes in the five counties here treated, but made a dis- triet of Potter township (Centre County), to meet at George MeCormick's, in Penn's Valley. The act of September 10, 1787, provided for a separate (Sixth) district for the townships of Greenwood and Rye, the election to be held ". at. the mill late the property of David English, and known by the name of English's Mill, ir the township of Rye." The act of September 26, 1788, made the Sixth District of Northmim- berland County out of the townships of Penn's and Beaver, the election to be held at AAlbright Swineford's, in Penn's (Middleburg), and the Third District at Andrew Bellyer's house, in Buffaloc, instead of Fontz's, or Green Mill. The act of September 19, 1789, forming Mil- flin County, continued the election districts, ex- cept that the part of Northumberland which fell into the new county, and which is now in Centre County, and embracing Potter and Bald Eagle townships, was to hold elections at the house of Enoch Hastings. By the act of Sep- tember 29, 1789, it was provided that the part of Greenwood lying in Mifflin County, by the act forming said county, be a separate district, and hold elections at the house of Henry Mc- Counel, in said district. The same act also provided that Lack township be a separate dis- triet and hold elections at the house of James Stack pole, in said township.1
NEGRO SLAVERY AND SERVITUDE .- The tax-lists furnish the following information con- cerning slaves and servants within the present
limits of Juniata County. Besides the negroes and mulattoes held slaves for life, prior to the act of March 1, 1780, there were servants to the age of thirty-one years, and others held for seven and a less number of years. The line between slaves and servants is not clearly kept up in the tax-lists, as the same person is some- times termed a slave and again a servant. The value set upon them was very variable, rising very high in 1779, in the depreciated Continental serip. No effort is here made to locate the persons taxed beyond the four original town- ships. All owners not here given as taxed for " servants" are taxed for negro slaves.
LACK TOWNSHIP.
Grahl, Peter, silversmith, 1799, value £12. Gray, Robert, 1788, servant, £20.
How, Robert, weaver, 1785, servant, £16. Neely, William, 1792, €7.
MILFORD TOWNSHIP'.
Beale & Sterrett, at the Freedom Forge, 1792-94 ; Cahill, Edward, 1796; Sterrett, William, 1798-99; value £3 in 1792; €10 in 1794; £30, 1796; £10, 1798: £10, 1799.
Bell, William, Esq., 1775, servant.
Campbell, Robert, 1775, servant.
Campbell, Robert, 1779-83; £40 in 1781-83.
Crawford, James, 1780, servant.
Evans, Isaac, 1790, servant, €2 10s.
Gordon, Joseph, 1779, and two 1780, servants.
Graham, William, 1775-76, servant.
Hardy, Hugh, 1796-97, servant; . 64, 1796; £15, 1797.
ITarris, Thomas, 1781-85; £30, 1783; £10, 1785.
Henderson, John, 1775, servant.
Horrel, Clement, 1770, servant.
Kearsley, Samuel, 1775, servant.
Kepler, Benjamin, Sr., 1775.
Kepler, Benjamin, Sr., 1779-80, servant ; £4, 1779. Kerr, John, 1774, servant.
Lyon, John, 1774-75, servant.
Lyon, John, Jr., 1779-93; €150 in 1779; €60, 1781; €30, 1785; €15, 1790; £20, 1793.
Lyon, Samuel, Esq., 1774-75, servant.
Lyon, Samuel, Esq., 1779-80 ; $150, 1779.
McClelland, John, 1775, servant.
McClelland, Joseph, 1797, servant, £10.
McDonal, Duncan, 1770, servant.
McKee, John, 1825, has one negro girl.
McNair, Duncan, 1786, £10.
Moore, Elizabeth, 1820, T., one black girl, $50.
Moore, George's, heirs, 1821, T., have one negro girl.
Moore, Jane, 1826, T., one slave, $100. .
I See act of April 9, 1791.
2
£
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Okeson, Daniel, 1786-88, servant; £6 in 1786; £10 in 1788.
Patterson, William, Esq., two, 1767-69; three in 1770; £8 for two, 1769.
Patterson, John, merchant, 1801, $30.
Patton, William, 1798, servant.
Pollock, Charles, 1769-80, servant; £1, 1769.
Pollock, Charles, 1773.
Poltney, Joseph, 1773; 1783-87 ; £35 in 1783; £25, 1785; £22 108., 1787.
Poltney, Thomas, 1782, £50.
Quigley, Hugh, 1770, servant.
Rodman, James, 1786, servant, £5.
Smith, John, 1769, two, 1797-98, servants ; 215 for two, 1797; E6 for two, 1798.
Stewart, George, Esq., 1775, servant.
Stewart, George, 1775-78, three 1779-82, two 1783 -87; widow, two 1788-90; 2600 for three, 1779 ; 0240 for three, 1781 ; £100 for two, 1783; £50, 1787 ; £-10, 1789; £30, 1790.
Stewart, John, 1791-1803, two, 1804; a girl 1809; £20, 1791; $90, 1796 ; $100, 1799; $100 for two, 1804; $20, 1809.
Styles, Abraham, 1797, servant, £15.
Taylor, Robert, 1783-98, mulatto; £20, 1783; £17. 10, 1785; "Black George," £10, 1787; £11, 1792; £6, 1798. Styled a servant sometimes.
Thomas, Widow, 1798; servant, £12.
Turbet, Thomas, Ed., 1786, servant, C6.
Wilson, Thomas, 1774-75, servant.
Wilson, Thomas, 1779-96; £150 in 1779; £60, 1781 ; £25, 1785; £12, 1790; . 090, 1796.
Wilson, George, Esq., two in 1804, $80.
FERMANAGHE TOWNSHIP.
Allen, David, two in 1803; three in 1812; two in 1813 ; value $16 in 1802 ; $600 for three, 1812; $110 for two, 1813.
Alricks, James, 1808, $25.
Barr, James, 1793-94, servant, £15.
Bell, William, Esq., 1811-13, $30, 1811 ; $40, 1813.
Bryson, Samuel, Esq., 1788-99; €35 in 1788; £20, 1793; $60, 1799.
Bryson, Widow Ann, 1800-17; two 1808; $70, 1800; $10, 1804; $100 for two, 1808 ; $18, 1812; $75, 1817.
Bull, Thomas, Capt., 1778.
Cookson, Joseph, 1790, servant, £15, a boy for five years.
Davis, Joseph, 1795, Widow Sarah, 1802-3; £5, 1795 ; $50, 1803.
Fargison, Thomas, 1767, in Mitllin County.
Fry, Gabriel, 1776, servant.
Gamble, John, 1767, in Mifflin County.
Gallaher, James, 1779, .£100.
Hamilton, John, 1775, servant.
Hamilton, John, 1778, and two 1780-87 ; . 623 for two in 1981; 255 for two, 1785 ; a wench, 1810-23,
and two in 1812; $50, 1810; $40, 1813; $100, 1817; $75, 1820; $50, 1822.
Hanson, John, 1780-82; £12 in 1782.
Harris, John, Esq., 1776; two 1786-88, servants; £18 in 1786; €5, 1788.
Harris, John, Esq., 1780-92; widow 1793-1800-a wench ; . 215, 1781; €30, 1785; $10, 1790; £15, 1795; $60, 1799.
Harris, William, 1799-1802; $50 in 1799, $60, 1802. Jordan, Stephen, 1767, servant.
Kepler, Benjamin, 1779-83; two in 1782; £260, 1779; £20, 1781; £25, 1783.
Kepler, John, Jr., 1780, servant.
Kinslow, Widow Thomas, 1802, $60.
Knox, James, Esq., 1808-13; $30 in 1808; $50, 1813.
Lackins, John, 1767.
Larrimore, Ebenezer, 1793, servant boy ; £15.
Logan, William, Rev., 1790-1800; €30 in 1790, £19 108., 1795 ; $60, 1800.
Logan, William, Rev., 1790, servant, EG-a girl for four years.
Lowery, Jacob, 1785-86; widow, 1804, "an in- valid " and 1812; £30 in 1785.
Maclay, William, Hon., 1769, servant, £1 103.
Moore, John, 1788-1809; £20, 1788; £15, 1794; $70, 1800; $50, 1809.
McCamant, William, 1808-10, a wench ; $30, 1808 ; $50,1810.
McElwaine, Samuel, 1785-87, servant, £10.
Mckeever, John, 1769, servant, £1 108.
MeMeen, Robert, 1800-12; two in 1811; $70, 1800; $40, 1808; $100, for two, 1811 ; $150, 1812.
Nelson, Robert, 1768-70 and 1785-88; £4 in 1769; €30, 1785 ; €25, 1788.
Nelson, Robert, 1768, servant.
Patterson, James, Capt., four in 1767-69; three 1770; one 1771; value of four'in 1769, 616.
Patterson, James, Capt., 1769; servant, £1 10s.
Patterson, Widow Jean, 1772-83, 1795-1804; two in 1779 and 1783; three in 1782; in 1804 "an invalid," value in 1779, 0100 each; C20, 1781; two in 1783, $45; in 1795, £15 ; in 1799, $60 each; in 1804, $50.
Patterson, William, Esq., 1771-72.
Patterson, William, Esq., 1772, servant.
Patterson, James, Jr., 1782-89, a wench, 215 in 1783; £60 for two, 1787 ; $45, 1789.
Patterson, George, Esq., 1788-91 ; two 1792-1806; three in 1808; 020 in 1788; £25 cach, 1792; $60 cach, 1799; $25 cach, 1806 ; $100 for the three in 1808.
Rankin, John, 1785-86, servant, C8.
Sterrett, William, 1789 and in 1802 struck off ut ap- peal ; same negro taxed to Beale & Sterrett at the forge in Milford ; £45 in 1789.
Stewart, John, Esq., W., 1821, $25. Tardevance, Peter, 1780,
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1
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JUNIATA COUNTY.
Taylor, James, Esq., 1772-74 aud 1793, servant ; £15 in 1793.
Walker, David, Fxq., 1788, servant.
Watsou, John, Exq., two, 1808 at $75.
Wiley, Samuel, 1793, servant, E10. Wright, John, 1793-94, servant, ci5.
Wright, Jacob, 1806, '11, '12, '20, '21, a mulatto boy $30; $30, 1806; $60, 1811 ; 8150, 1812; $200, 1820. GREENWOOD.
MeAlister, William, Esq., 1791-1820, a wench aged 45 in 1815 and named Phillis ; also a mulatto girl in 1813.
McAlister, John, a wench, 1823-27. No doubt this is the same Phillis owned by his father William. Value .£20 in 1791 ; 230, 1795; $30, 1799; $25, 1812; $50, 1814; $1, 1820; $6, 1823 ; 85, 1825, and six cents in 1827.
Montgomery, John, inn-keeper, 1831, 1 mulatto slave, $10.
The mimber of slaves in Pennsylvania in 1790 was 3737; in 1800 there were 1706; in 1810 there were 795; in 1820 there were 211 ; in 1830 there were 175.
In 1790 Mifflin County had 59 slaves and 42 other colored persons. Nearly all of these were in the upper part of the county. In 1793 there were 23 slaves held in the county.
CHAPTER III.
THE BENCH AND THE BAR.I
Sketches of the Judges and Attorneys of the Janiata Courts.
The first court held in the county of Juniata convened at Mifflintown ou the 5th day of December, A.D., 1831. This fact we glean from Appearance Docket " B," page 9, for the county of JJuniata :-
" At a County Court of Common Pleas, begun and held at the Presbyterian meeting-house in Mitlin- town, in the County of Juniata (in pursuance of an Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, passed the second day of March, s. D., 1831, entitled ' Au act erecting all that part of Milllin County South and East of the Black Log and Shade mountains into a separate County to be called Juniata ') on the first Monday (the fifth day) of De- cember, A D., 1831 ; the Hlou. Calvin Blythe was President and the Honorable Benjamin Kepner and Hou. Daniel Christy were the Associate Justices."
' By Alfred J. Patterson, Esq., of Mitllintown.
At the time of the formation of the county, Mifflin County, from which Juniata County was formed, was part of the Fourth Judicial District. of Pennsylvania, and was presided over by Hon. Thomas Burnside.
Indge Burnside declined to hold the courts. for Juniata County, and Judge Blythe, of whom we shall speak again, kindly consented to preside
Juniata County does not seem to have been regularly connected with any judicial district, until the passage of the act of Assembly of April 14, A.D. 1834, which organized the counties of Schuylkill, Lebanon, Dauphin and Inniata into the Twelfth Judicial District of Pennsylvania.
Juniata County remained in the Twelfth Judi- cial District until, by the passage of the act of Assembly of April 11, 1835, it was trans- forred to the Ninth Judicial District, composed of the counties of Cumberland, Perry and Jun- iata.
By the act of Assembly of April 9, 1874, Juniata and Perry were organized into the Forty-first Judicial District.
The persons who have discharged the duties of president judges in the county of Juniata are the following: Hon. Calvin Blythe; Hon. John Reed ; Hon. Samuel Hepburn ; Hon. Frederick Watts; Hon. James H. Graham; Hon. Benjamin F. Junkin ; Hon. Charles 1. Barnett. Of these seven distinguished and learned jurists who administered the duties of their high position with wisdom, integrity and fairness, Hon. Calvin Blythe, Hon. Jolm Reed and Hon. James II. Graham are deceased. Hon. Samuel Hepburn, Hon. Frederick Watts, Hon. Benjamin F. Junkin and Hon. Charles A. Bar- nett still survive.
We shall speak of the dead first in order- as we have remarked, Hos. CALVIN BLYTHE first presided in the courts of Juniata. Judge Blythe was not a native of Juniata, but was born in Adams County, Pa., and settled in Juniata County about A.D. 1818. He continued the practice of law until he was chosen to serve as Secretary of State by Gov- ernor Shultze. He had represented the legislative district with which Juniata County was then comected in the Legislature, and there had
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
made the acquaintance of Governor Shultze. After the expiration of his term as Secretary of State, he was appointed president, judge of a ju- dicial district of Pennsylvania, composed of the counties of Schuylkill, Lebanon and Dauphin, by Governor Wolf.
Juniata County having been formed from Mitllin County, and being part of the judicial district of Judge Burnside, and he being averse to preside over the courts of Juniata, Judge Blythe, cherishing pleasant and kind recollee- tions of Juniata, agreed to hold its courts, and did so from December 5, 1831, until September, A.D., 1835.
We are informed that JJudge Blythe practiced law for some time in Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pa., and when he left that place he came to Mifflintown on foot, and his trunk followed him on an ox-team.
The late James Mathers and Thomas Knox, Esqs., were students-at-law with Judge Blythe, when he practiced his profession in Juniata.
General William Bell and Mrs. Jane Irvine, of Mifflintown, inform me that Judge Blythe was a soldier in the War of 1812, and at a bat- tle at which Colonel Bull, of Perry County, was killed, being shot from his horse, he mount- ed the horse which had been ridden by Colonel Bull, took charge of the command, and evinced such bravery and skill, that success and victory crowned his efforts.
Judge Blythe died in the city of Philadel- phia, where he spent the evening of his longand useful life. He was a learned and able lawyer, an honest, upright and wise judge, a brave sol- dier, an ardent patriot, a man of great amiabil- ity of character, a highly respected and useful citizen and a blessing to his age and generation.
We are sorry that we can say so little about JUDGE JOHN REED, as not a member of the Juniata bar lives to-day who practiced under him.
When Judge Reed was appointed president judge of the Ninth Judicial Distriet he was a resident of the county of Westmoreland. He was commissioned July 10, 1820, by Governor Findlay (Juniata County becoming part of the Ninth Judicial District by the act of April 11, 1835). He continued to discharge the duties of
the position until February 7, 1839, when he was sneceeded by Hon. Samuel Hepburn. Judge Reed resided in Carlisle and died there. He discharged the duties of president judge with great acceptance, being a man of learning, in- tegrity and wisdom. After he left the bench he resumed the practice of law, and practiced with great success in the counties of Cumberland, Perry and Juniata. We have been informed that he was a lawyer of most remarkable success in obtaining verdicts. He was a man of tireless industry, possessed of a strong and well-trained intellect, a fine reasoner, a forcible declaimer, speaking to the point and with great plainness.
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