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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 54
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 54
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 54
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 54
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. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 54
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surveyor. He was elected county surveyor in 1884 for the terin of three years.
JOHN BLAIR LINN, the son of James F. Linn, was born at Lewisburgh, October 15, 1831, was prepared for college at the Lewis- burgh Academy, under John Robinson, Esq., late of the Philadelphia bar ; entered Marshall College, at Mercersburg, Pa., in May, 18:16, (sophomore class), half advanced, where he graduated, at the age of seventeen, in the same class with the Hon. Charles A. Mayer, presi- dent judge of Clinton and Centre.
Ile read law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar September 16, 1851. The years 1852 and 1853 were spent in Sullivan County, which had just been opened out, where he was elected district attorney. Returned to Union Connty in 1854, where he was in practice until his removal to Bellefonte, in April, 1871. April 10, 1873, he was appointed deputy Secretary of State by the Hon. M. S. Quay, and May 15, 1878, upon the resignation of Mr. Quay, he was commissioned Secretary of State, where he remained until after Gov- ernor Hoyt was inaugurated, and then returned to Bellefonte.
He and Dr. Egle were made editors of the Second Series of Pennsylvania Archives, the publication of which was recommended by Governor Hartranft in his annual message, January 7, 1874, and they were issued in twelve volumes, under Mr. Quay's supervision. In 1877 he published the " Annals of Buffalo Valley," a local work embracing the history of Union County principally. It is a book of 620 pages, replete with interest, though largely local, and involved an immense amount of painstaking labor. While he was Secretary of State there were published under his direction " Duke of York's Laws, 1676-82, and Laws of the Province, 1682-1700." Governor Mifflin, under the authority of the act of Assembly of the 20 of October, 1781, had appointed Alex- ander J. Dallas to collate and republish the Laws of Pennsylvania from the 11th of October, 1700, to 1781, and this was done in 1797. By a petition of right, and direction to Benjamin Fletcher (Governor-General), laws, enacted and named in it were declared to be in force in the
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province from that date, 1700. So what we call Smith's Laws-a compilation sanctioned by the Legislature-is from 1700 to 1810. But prior to that the country was governed by the Duke of York ; and though the laws and ordi- nanees were all absorbed in the petition of right, they were of great historical value and in danger of being entirely lost.
In 1882, Mr. Linn edited the "History of Centre and Clinton Counties," in a handsome volume of nearly seven hundred pages, which has preserved all that is of value of " men and things" in those counties in a readable and entertaining shape.
He was married twice,-first, to Julia A. Pollock, daughter of Fleming Pollock, of Mil- ton, by whom there were two children-Sallie and Bessie; and, again Angust, 1867, to Mary Wilson, daughter of Samuel IInnter Wilson, of Bellefonte, by whom there were two children-May and Henry Sage.
JAMES MERRILL LINN was born in the house he lives in, fifty-two years ago, last 17th day of October, in the year 1833, the fourth child of James F. and Margaret I. Linn. Educated at the Lewisburgh Academy, when the first session of the university commenced, in September, 1846, he entered what was then called the senior academic; entered college the next year, and graduated on the 20th of ; Angust, 1851, not quite eighteen, and with the salutatory. In 1852 he went to Lancaster to read law with a former student of his father, James Black. That year Franklin and Marshall College was consolidated and removed to Lancaster, and he was appointed tutor, teach- ing the Greek and Latin of the freshmen and sophomore classes. This was for two years, and, returning to Lewisburgh, was admitted to the bar in September, 1851. He opened an office in Phoenixville, Chester County, and remaining six months, it became pretty certain that the division of Union County would take place, and Lewisburgh become the county-seat. Ile returned to Lewisburgh, and became a partner of his father in 1858, under the firm- name ofJ. F. & J. M. Linn. The proclamation for seventy-five thousand men came out while engaged in a lawsuit in Snyder County. The
wranglestoppedat once, and setting off to Lewis- burgh, he reached there in time to go with a a company in the three months' service as second lieutenant. On the expiration of that term he raised a company for three years' ser- vice, and was enlisted in the Fifty-first Penn- sylvania Volunteers, under Colonel Hartranft, and commissioned captain of Company H, Fifty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers. A great portion of his service was staff duty, but more especially as judge advocate of the division. The campaign at Vicksburg planted malaria, which the campaign in East Tennessee confirm- ed and added, so that in the spring of 1864, his health was broken, and a resignation followed.
Two or three years elapsed before he could resume his professional work, but then he got into active practice. His father dying in 1869, he entered into partnership with A. H. Dill, a partnership continuing ten years and very suc- cessful, professionally. In October, 1879, the partnership was dissolved, and from that time on, he has engaged in his profession alone. He was married, December 26, 1867, to Mary Ellen, eldest daughter of Philip Billmyer of Lewisburgh, Pa., and has one son, Philip Billinyer Linn, born May 25th, 1869.
SAMUEL HENRY ORWIG was born at Mifflin- burg, Union County, Pa., on the 8th day of August 1836. His father, Samuel Orwig, a son of George Orwig, who laid out Orwigs- burgh, in Schuylkill County, came to this county when twelve years old and settled. His mother was -- Myers, whose parents lived on their farm in West Buffalo; but they dying while she was a child, John Ray became her guardian, with whom she lived until married to Mr. Orwig. Samuel H. Orwig was edu- cated partly at the Mifflinburg Academy, which was then tanght by Henry G. Maguire, and he spent two years at the Lewisburgh University, 1852-53; taught a public school in Lewisburgh one year, and one year in Hollidaysburg. Then became a clerk in Phila- delphia, and at the same time read law in the office of Judge Kelley, and then- spent two years in the Law School at Yale, in which The graduated, and in the same year, on motion
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of Hon. G. F. Miller, was admitted to the bar of Union County on the 11th of December 1857. He entered into partnership in the practice of law with Alfred Hayes, Esq., and was elected to the Legislature in 1864, from the district of Union, Snyder and Juniata, and in 1865 from the district, of Lycoming, Union and Sny- der. In the Legislature he served on the committees of " Ways and Means," "General Judiciary" and " Local Judiciary;" was largely instrumental in procuring the repeal of the law taxing real estate for State purposes, for the collection of the money due the com- monwealth for unpatented lands law; for estab- lishing the Soldiers' Orphans' Schools, extending the right of voting to soldiers in the field, the constitutional amendments, seenring the charter of the Lewisburgh and Spruce Creek Railroad and in much legislative work of gen- eral and local interest. During the invasion of the State by Lee's rebel army he served as a private in Company D., Twenty-eighth Regiment (emergeney men). He was the Re- publiean nominee for Congress in 1882 in the Twentieth Distriet, composed of Centre, Union, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk and Mifflin, and was defeated by Governor Curtin. In 1884 he was nominated by the Republicans against S. P. Wolverton for the State Senate.
WILLIAM CAMERON, JR., was born at Lew- isburgh. He was the son of William Cameron, of the same place, whose biography appears elsewhere. He was educated at Lewisburgh, and admitted to the bar on the 12th of Sep- tember, 1859. He was a pleasant mannered young man, very agreeable in conversation, and bid fair to make a place in his profession He died suddenly on the 29th of November, 1862, at the age of twenty-four. His family is mentioned in the biography of his father.
ANDREW HI. DILL was born in Hereford, Baltimore County, Md, January 18, 1836. His father was the Rev. Henry G. Dill, who was a minister of the Methodist Church, born in Adams County, Pa., in the itineracy of which he would remove from place to place, according to his appointments, and is still living retired at Lewisburgh. His mother was Sarah A. Gilbert, daughter of Bernhart Gilbert, of Adams Co., Pa.
In 18-19, Andrew H. Dill entered Dickinson Seminary, from which he graduated in 1852, entering the junior year in Dickinson College ; graduated in the first section in June, 1855. He then engaged in teaching in Frederick County, Md., and became a student under John Lynch, of Frederick City, where he was ad- mitted to the bar in 1858, after which he practiced in Columbia County ; opened an office in Gettysburg ; after six months' stay he asso- eiated himself with Isaiah Dill, his unele, at Huntsville, Ala. In April, 1861, he re- turned to Pennsylvania and settled in Lewis- burgh, Union County, where he has continued in practice ever since; from 1869 until 1879, associated with J. Merrill Linn, under the firm name of Linn & Dill ; and from 1881, associated with Erwin M. Beale, under the firm-naine of Dill & Beale.
In 1869 he received the Democratie nomina- tion for member of the House, was cleeted for the district of Lycoming, Union and Snyder ; and in the fall of 1870 elected to the Senate, distriet of same counties; in 1872-75, for the Senatorial district of Snyder, Perry, Northumberland and Union Counties ; 1875- 76, for the district of Union, Snyder and North- umberland. He resigned during his last year, when he became the Democratic nominee for Governor, as against Hoyt, sinee which time he has pursued his profession.
He, during this time, was all the time en- gaged, or a partner in some manufacturing interest. In 1865 he became a partner of Billmeyer, Dill & Co., in the manufacture of bill-timber and boats; and remained so asso- ciated until 1880, when he entered the firm of Dill, Watson & Co., whose operations are ear- ried on in Somerset County, Pa. He is also the president of the Central Manufacturing Company, of Lewisburgh, engaged in the manu- facture of agricultural implements.
During his terms in the Legislature there were many important matters of legislation ; among others, the bill providing for the Con- stitutional Convention, and, after the adoption of the Constitution, the legislation necessary to give its provisions effect. His one able characteristie was that he never lost his head,
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always had the standing of a bill or measure in his mind-never lost the thread-and thus, obtained and maintained a very high place among his fellows. His very good common- sense, tact and prudence in management availed him very much.
And this was so in his profession. He had the first principles of the law well and clearly laid. He had a clear, logical, and what in legal parlance is called a legal mind-reason- ing closely and with good judgment, following that track alone which led definitely to his point of attack. In the conduct of a case he had most excellent judgment and taet, readily seeing the bearing of evidence, when to bring it out and when to let it alone. In the ex- amination of a witness he got out the evidence in good shape, and could leave an unwilling or adverse witness just at that point which was often very damaging. In addressing a jury he was eloquent, had a fine flow of language ; never indulged in ancedote or fun, but had equally good judgment in knowing how to present the facts in the best shape, carrying out lumi- nously the favorable and shading in very dis- tant perspective the unfavorable.
IIe was married, on the 14th of October, 1864, to Miss Catharine S. Slifer, daughter of Colonel Eli Slifer.
JOHN ADAMS BEARD, son of Augustus and Amanda (Bechtel) Beard, who are residents of Robeson, Berks County, was born June 30, 1861. He was educated at Mifflinburg; read with Horace P. Glover, admitted to the bar December 21, 1882; resident at Mifflinburg.
WILLIAM JONES. William Jones was born August 9, 1822, in Chillisquaque township, Northumberland County, Pa., about a half-mile below Lewisburgh. His parents moved to Lewisburgh four or five years after, and lived in the property now the American Hotel, John S. P. Weidensaul. He read law with the Hon. George F. Miller, and was ad- mitted to the bar of Union County, at New Berlin, in 1818. In 1852 he went to Cali- fornia, and returned in March, 1855, since which time he has practiced his profession at Lewisburgh. He was two years treasurer of the county, 1867 and 1871, and has been town
clerk and treasurer of the borough from 1862 until the present time. lle was married, March 20, 1856, to Ada Bell, and has two children, daughters.
CHARLES SPYKER WOLFE I was born at Lew- isburgh, Union County, April 6, 1845. His father, Sainnel Wolfe, was of Pennsylvania Ger- man extraction, his ancestors having emigrated from Berks County to this section before the Revolution, and one of them was killed by the Indians in a predatory excursion, about the time of the famous Wyoming massacre, and is buried on a farm near Lewisburgh. Samuel Wolfe, his father, mar- ried Catharine Lawshe, a descendant of a Huguenot family. He was the leading grain dealer of the West Branch, and had extensive transactions with the farmers and business inen of a large region of country in buying wheat and shipping it by canal to Baltimore, Philadelphia and other points. He gained a reputation for honesty and uprightness over a wide extent of country, where he was so well known that his word was never questioned. This reputation proved to be a legacy of great value to his son, who, when quite young, started out to secure the nomination to the Legislature as he was invariably greeted with the remark, that "if he was as good a man as his father, the district would have reason to be proud of such a representative."
Samuel Wolfe was one of the founders of the Lewisburgh University, where his son was afterwards educated, and held the position of treasurer of the institution at the time of his death, when Charles was only five years old. By dint of his industrious and enterpris- ing business methods he had accumulated a fair competency, so that his widow and children were left in comfortable circumstances, and the latter given a good education. Charles was adınitted to college in 1861, having been awarded the highest prize given his class at the preliminary examination. He was at this time in very delicate health, and in consequence was compelled to leave college one year, and was not graduated till 1866, when he was awarded the highest honors of his class. The
1 Geo. W. Mapes.
Charles 8. Wolfe
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intervening year he spent in Minnesota with a party of civil engineers, who were survey- ing the Winona and St. Peter's Railway.
During his college course he enlisted in Captain Lambert's company of Independent Calvalry, and served in the Fishing Creek Con- foderaey campaign, and also was with his com- pany in one of the Cumberland Valley cam- pigns, where he served as orderly to General Couch. He kept up his studies during the period of his military service, so as to be able to keep pace with his class. At the expiration of his collegiate course he entered Harvard law School, and was graduated therefrom. Feb- ruary, 26, 1868, he was married to Martha E. Meixell, whose father was Joseph Meixell, and maternal grandfather, James Moore, Sr., and uncles, James Moore, Jr., and Dr. William Lud- wig, who were among the most prominent and generous of the founders of the university at Lewisburgh, and the most esteemed and enter- prising of Union County's citizens. This happy union has been blessed with one son, Joseph Meixell, and four daughters,-Catherine Lawshe, Mary Moore, Martha and Eleanor.
Upon the completion of his law course Mr. Wolfe returned to his native town and engaged in the practice of his chosen profession. Here, by his indefatigable industry, he soon estab- lished a lucrative practice, which has since con- stantly increased. He has now associated with him a partner in the person of A. A. Leiser, Esq. Mr. Wolfe's powers of endurance are extraor- dinary, and he has, at times, continued at his work, incessantly, for twenty-four hours, with- out rest or sleep. Ile has achieved a very high place in his profession, and ranks high as a lawyer in this State.
His most notable characteristics as a profes- sional man are thoroughness in research and the power to state his positions in clear and forcible terms. Every person who has had the opportunity to hear him argue a point of law or a legislative proposition has been forcibly struck with those traits of his mental power. Ile first goes to the bottom of every subject with which he grapples, and then states his points in terms so clear and forcible that even a child might understand them. But,
while he has achieved notable success for one so young in his chosen profession, Mr. Wolfe is best known to the people of this State as an able, honest and courageous legislator.
Ile was first chosen in 1872 to represent the counties of Union and Snyder in the House of Representatives at Harrisburg, and was re- elected the following year. In 1871 he was elected to represent Union County, and took an active part in preparing the body of legisla- tion enacted in that year for the purpose of putting in force the provisions of the new Constitution. He was associated in that body with Hon. John I. Mitchell, Judge Orvis, of Cen- tre County, Newmyer, of Allegheny, Stranahan, of Mercer, and others of ability and experience ; and, although the youngest member of the body, he was considered one of the most active and- nseful legislators who had the honor to represent this commonwealth in that session.
He was re-elected for 1875-76, and, although the Democrats were in the ascendancy in this body, he divided the honors of the Republican leadership with John I. Mitchell and won popu- larity by his conduct of the Boom Bill investi- gation and his management of the proceedings, which resulted in the trial and expulsion of certain members.
During the session of 1877 General Simon Cameron resigned his seat in the United States Senate, and secured the position for his son. Mr. Wolfe resolved to become a deter- mined foe to the Cameron interest and offered himself again as a candidate for the Legislature and was enthusiastically elected upon the distinct issue that he would not vote to return Hon. Don Cameron to the United States Senate at the expiration of his term, in 1879.
When the Legislature of that year assembled, the House was no sooner organized than, under the call of the chairman of the State Committee, the Senatorial caucus was called, nearly two weeks in advance of the election. There were many protests and mutterings among the Representatives and Senators at this haste, but Mr. Cameron was nominated. Twenty-seven members and Senators, including Mr. Wolfc, absented themselves from the caucus. An adjournment was effected for one week, during
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which time all but five yielded and Mr. Cameron was elected. Mr. Wolfe and his few companions looked forward to the balance of the session with anything but pleasurable anticipations. But this period of depression was of short duration, as Mr. Wolfe was a man of such aggressiveness and ability that in a short time he was able to turn the tables against his enemies and assume his natural place as the leader of the House. This session was destined to witness one of the most stubborn and exciting legislative contests ever known in the history of the commonwealth.
In 1877 much valuable property was de- stroyed in Pittsburgh during the riots there, and for the losses thus incurred Allegheny County, by special enactment, was made re- sponsible. These losses amounted to such an enormous sum that the people of the county applied to the Legislature for relief, and a bill was introduced appropriating four million dol- lars for that purpose. The balance of the State objected loudly to being taxed to pay this claim, and a determined opposition to the pass- age of the bill was soon organized. Mr. Wolfe led the opposition. The contest became very violent, and for a long time it seemed very doubtful as to the final result. At last some of the friends of the measure, despairing of passing it by ordinary influences, under- took to compass its success by bribing, and were detected and exposed.
A committee of investigation was appointed, of which Mr. Wolfe was a member. They made a report recommending the expulsion of four members. The friends of the measure prevented their expulsion, and thus forced resort to criminal prosecution. This commit- tee was composed of Messrs. McKee, Wolfe, Mapes, White, Hackett, Bradford, Kirke and Sherwood, Mr. Wolfe was the leading spirit in this endeavor to bring the men to justice. Eminent counsel were employed, including Judge Black, Matthew H. Carpenter, of Wis- consin, Franklin B. Gowen, Judge Simonton, of Harrisburg, George HI. Irwin and others.
The Legislature had made no provision for the expenses of the trial. But the determined committee obtained the necessary funds by
private subscriptions, and pushed the snits. Every obstacle which ingennity, trickery and legal acumen could interpose was placed in the way of the prosecution ; but when the defendants had exhausted all means of delay and were compelled to face a jury of their peers, by the advice of their counsel, four of them pleaded guilty, and one was tried and convicted.
In all the tedions work of this laborious prosecution Mr. Wolfe was the acknowledged leader, and to his untiring energy and his relentless determination to vindicate the fame of the State, must be attributed in great de- gree all the good effects that followed.
In connection with this part of Mr. Wolfe's public record it should be mentioned that the prosecution and conviction of the Riot Bill bribers was accomplished without the expen- diture of a single dollar of the pubhe funds. All the expenses of the trial-and they were greater than those of any other State triat in the history of the commonwealth-were paid by private subscriptions.
It is not improbable that the success which attended Mr. Wolfe's efforts to punish crime in high places had something to do with the organization of the reform movement under the Committee of One Hundred in Philadelphia.
The reputation acquired by Mr. Wolfe in his crusade against the Riot Bill corruptionists led to his overwhelming re-election to the House in 1880, which in that year had a Republican majority of forty-three votes, and the Senate a majority of sixteen. The interest of the session centred upon the election of a United States Senator to succeed William A. Wallace, and many people of the State had expressed their preference for Galusha A. Grow, who, though a man of great ability, was not acceptable to the radical wing of the party. A bolt was organ- ized, and fifty-six Senators and Representatives, prominent among whom was Mr. Wolfe, re- fused to enter the party caucus. The bolters held the balance of power in the contest that followed, and voted for Mr. Grow steadily until he withdrew. The struggle ended in the election of John I. Mitchell as a compromise candidate. Throughout this contest, from its
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inception to its consummation, Mr. Wolfe was a foremost and effective worker against the radical wing of the party.
In his legislative career he displayed the saume effective oratory that marks his services. is a legal advocate. His argument against the constitutionality of the Riot Bill has been pronounced a master-piece of cloquence and legal authority. Mr. " Wolfe's greatness as a speaker rises to its loftiest height in the heat of some fierce debate in the halls of the Legis- lature. It needs opposition, frietion, contra- diction or the blind assault of an infuriated antagonist to rouse his latent energies, and when that is done he rises like some mountain torrent, with logie, invective, ridicule and withering satire sweeps all before him.
The inauguration of President Garfield was hailed as the signal for purer morals iu Penn- sylvania polities. The President was in hearty accord with the Independent spirit which had elected Mitchell to the United States Senate, and he announced his purpose to recognize all elements of the party equally. The courageous independence of the Federal administration effected a change in the tactics of the leaders of Pennsylvania Republicanism, and they evinced a disposition to meet the Liberal ele- ment half-way in the work of reconciliation. William F. Davies, of Bradford County, one of the State Senators who had bolted the Senatorial caucus the winter before, was suggested by the Independents as an available person for State Treasurer, and the Radical Republicans offered to support him, and there was a tacit, if not an explicit, understanding that Davies was to be the party nominee ; but the death of the Presi- dent and the accession to that office of his successor, who himself represented the Radical wing of the Republican party, changed the policy of the Pennsylvania Radicals, and they resolved that the State should present herself to the new Administration in the attitude of a supporter of the Stalwart policy. To accom- plish this purpose the pledges of fealty to Davies were cast to the winds and the forces of the Radical wing of the party were concentrated to nominate a candidate whose record should harmonize with the third term idea.
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