History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 80

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
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USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 80

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The finishing stroke was to furnish the whole party with a good dinner, and secure them as friends and clients ever after.

At about the age of twenty-one Beaver cut himself with an axe, and was confined to his house for some weeks. This was intolerable to his active spirit, and he must do something, and there was only one thing he could think of. He was utterly illiterate, barely able to read, but seeing a copy of "Smith's " .as," which had belonged to his grandfather Stoy when a justice of the peace, he determined to attack them, dry as they were. This he did with so much zeal and vigor that by the time his wound healed he was the confidential adviser of all his neighbors in the law. He then learned surveying, and after mastering that art practically he concluded to study law regu-

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larly, and for this purpose put himself under the direction of A. W. Foster, Esq., a good tutor and eminent lawyer, who thought he saw in this young Hercules something better even than muscle, and he encouraged him to persevere.

He read law for five years, boarding all that time in Grapeville, four miles from Greensburg, and walk- ing in and out every day. He was admitted to the bar in February, 1833, and was soon in a large practice.

He was first an anti-Mason in politics, and after- wards a Whig, then one of the original Free-Soil party. He ran for Congress in 1840 as a Whig, but was defeated by A. G. Marchand, Esq. The senior editor of the Argus, John M. Laird, Esq., was during the campaign chairman of the Democratic County Convention to prepare resolutions of the sense of that body. He and Beaver stopped at the same hotel. Laird called his committee and had his resolutions already " cut and dry" for the meeting in the afternoon. His head was about thirty inches, more or less, and Beaver's was of the same size, and when Laird went to dinner he mistook his hat, and put his resolutions in Beaver's hat. Beaver went into court, and among other things presented to the court was Laird's reso- lutions, denouncing him (Beaver) as a scamp and un- worthy of any respectable citizen's support. The court (Judge White), as fond of fun as any body, gravely decided that he had no jurisdiction of the matter, and the resolutions were returned to Mr. Laird and duly passed by the convention.

Such was the good humor and fun of our old men forty years ago. About this time he did a good deal of professional business in Allegheny, and in 1842 sold his library and office furniture to Edward Cowan, Esq., with whom he was a short time in partnership, but removed to Ohio in a year or two thereafter. His success at the bar and in the Supreme Court was very marked, being a great favorite with the judges on ac- count of his fair and candid bearing towards them.

As soon as he was qualified in Ohio he was elected to the Senate of that State, and attracted great at- tention and consideration by his size, dress, and sin- gular ability. The Senate was a tie without him, and he was looked for with great anxiety when that body met. He arrived just in the nick of time, his wagon having broken down on the way; he had walked twelve miles that morning. He was a stranger, covered with mud, and as he strode into the cham- ber he was greeted with cheers, and his " boots" be- came famous in song and story for years after. He was leader for some time, but he could not work well in the harness of party, and he gave up his chances for promotion to enjoy independence of thought and action in the practice of his profession, which he continued till the last.

In the mean time he was industriously enlarging the boundaries of his knowledge in every direction, and continued his efforts through life, until at last he had few equals in all the fields of human learning.

His memory was astonishing, extending to the mi- nutest details, even dates and figures in all his busi- nees transactions ; and he has been known to repro- duce a draught of the courses and distances of a tract of land he had surveyed years before by mere force of his recollection.

He was a fearless inquirer and thinker, and, like all men of great energy and full of animal spirits, he was prone to be a reformer by remodeling the world according to modern ideas. Nor did failure seem to discourage him, as a new scheme was at hand always and ready for adoption.

His manners were easy and entirely unaffected, and no amount of provocation could disturb the equanim- ity of his temper or give him a second thought. He treasured no malice, and seemed incapable of hating anybody for any length of time. He had no vanity or pride, took no thought of himself or his person, and if clothes had been indestructible he would have worn the same suit forever. Mr. Cowan once having in vari- ous ways got his measures, procured for him a new suit of fashionable clothes, based upon a pair of polished boots, and surmounted by a great white "stove-pipe" hat. There was some coaxing necessary to get him to don the "rig," but once on and in the street the town turned out to give him an ovation. He was the hero par eminence of the young men. His great physique, kind and genial disposition had for them irresistible attractions, and they followed him for instruction as well as entertainment.

He belonged to a class of men produced in Western Pennsylvania, of nearly the same age, and who were equal, at least, to any of a like area in the Union. Ogle, Black, and Elder were of Somerset-" frosty sons of thunder;" Black, still wielding his ponderous spear, now without a rival; Ewing, Veech, Patterson, and Kaine sustained the old renown of Fayette, while Coulter, Thomas Williams, Governor Johnston, and Foster gave fame and credit to old Westmoreland. Some have disappeared, and the rest are fast disap- pearing; but they are not forgotten, and will not be as long as genuine merit has admirers.

ALBERT GALLATIN MARCHAND was born Feb. 26, 1811, and died Feb. 5, 1848, in the thirty-seventh year of his age. The disease of which he died made itself known but a few months before his death, but it had been secretly undermining his constitution for a long time prior to that.

At a very early age he went into the prothonotary's office as an assistant to his father, Dr. David Mar- chand. He even then displayed remarkable business talents; but the urbanity and politeness of his man- ner, his obliging and kind and courteous disposition, always manifesting itself towards those who were brought into business intercourse with him, secured. for him the admiration, confidence, and esteem of the foremost business men . and litigants of the county.

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He came to the bar in 1883, and when he did so he at once succeeded to a much larger practice than is usual with beginners in this profession. This con- tinued until his death.

To this profession he devoted very respectable legal talenta, considerable learning, great zeal, and untiring industry. No man's cause was left in his hands without receiving the carefullest and most critical attention, and when it was necessary to carry it to the bar he was assiduous in his preparation, and there advocated or defended with manly zeal and vigorous eloquence. His intercourse with members of the bar was characterized with scrupulous integrity, a high sense of honor, and a candid franknees ; and these traits were evidenced in his intercourse with his fel- low-men generally. He thus attained, for one of his age, a very high eminence in those qualities that confer dignity and honor on his profession. The clients who intrusted business to him had all confi- . dence that everything would be done for them. . His integrity was beyond a question, and his word as good as his bond.

He was early and sincerely attached to his party, the Democratic, and his fellow-citizens recognizing his worth, early conferred upon him honorable office. In 1840, when in histwenty-eighth year, he was elected to Congress in the district composed of Westmore- land and Indiana Counties. When he first took his seat, during the administration of Harrison, he was the youngest member except one. In 1842 he was elected for another term.

He possessed those strong traits of character very prominent in his family, a love for home and for the domestic circle, and preferred the endearments of wife and children and of devoted relations above the loud voice of popular applause.

His loss was deeply felt, for when one so young, 80 talented, so honored, and so beloved, a patriot so ar- dent and a friend so true as he was thus so suddenly called away from the circle in which he moved, the hearts of all were clouded with grief, and with these his memory was long sacredly treasured.

HON. HENRY DONNELL FOSTER.

But scant justice can be done in the limits of a sketch like this to the memory of a man who filled so large a place while living in the esteem and affection of the community in which his life's work was done, one so distinguished as a lawyer, statesman, and jurist.

Henry Donnell Foster was born in Mercer, Mercer Co., Pa., Dec. 19, 1808. He was a descendant of dis- tinguished Scottish, English, and Dutch stock. The Fosters were noted for their learning and ability gen- erations before they came to this country, more than a century and a half ago. They were of that God- fearing liberty-loving race which fought so long and so fearlessly against the religious intolerance which devastated Scotland in the bloody years before the time of Cromwell.

They were among the refugees who fled to the North of Ireland for peace and safety, and where they soon became a family of note and influence among the Scotch-Irish colonists. From this stock came Alexander Foster, the ancestor of the subject of this sketch, who, with his three young sons, William, James, and John, emigrated from Londonderry in the year 1725, and settled in Freehold, N. J.

On the maternal side, Mr. Foster was descended from the English Lords Townley, who were promi- Dent Roman Catholics, and lived in Lancashire, where they held large estates. The maternal ancestor of the Fosters who first came to this country was Mary Townley, the wife of William Lawrence. She was a sister of the then Lord Townley, the head of the family. Mary became a Protestant, and married Wil- liam Lawrence, which so scandalized her Roman Catholic brother that he forbade her ever entering his house again. She went with her husband and many others in that famous emigration to Holland which preceded the Puritan emigration to the bleak shores of New England.

After a residence of two years, she and her hus- band set sail from the harbor of Delft Haven for America, with Plymouth, Mass., as their destination. Their reckoning became lost in a severe storm during the passage, and they were compelled to land at the mouth of the Hudson, among the Dutch settlements.

Their eldest son, William, married and settled at Flushing, Long Island. The daughter married a Van Hook, and lived on the Hudson near New York, or New Amsterdam, as it was then called. Their son, Lawence Van Hook, was a judge of the court in that city. His daughter Frances married the Rev. Samuel Blair. She was the great-grandmother of Mr. Foster.

Of the three sons who came to America with their father, Alexander Foster, James, when grown, went to Washington County, Pa., where he made extensive purchases of lands and became a farmer. He was the grandfather of the celebrated American musical com- poser, Stephen C. Foster, also of William B. Foster, Jr., at one time vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and of Morrison Foster, of Alle- gheny City.

John went South and settled in Tennessee, where his descendants have been distinguished citizens, emi- nent in the councils of their State, and before the civil war in those of the nation.

William, the remaining son, the grandfather of Mr. Foster, studied for the ministry and settled in Oc- torara township, Chester Co., Pa., where he preached the gospel until the time of his death. He was born in Little Britain township, Lancaster Co., in 1740. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1764, having for his cotemporaries in that institution David Ramsay, the historian, Judge Jacob Rush, Oliver Ellsworth, Nathaniel Niles, and Luther Martin. He was taken under the care of the Presbytery of New Castle as a probationer for the ministry, Oct. 23, 1766,

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and was licensed to preach by that Presbytery, April 21, 1767. He accepted a call from the congregations of Upper Octorara and Doe Run, and was installed Oct. 19, 1768, being then about twenty-eight years of age.

Soon after his licensure he married Hannah, a daughter of Rev. Samuel Blair, formerly of Fagg's Manor, and a granddaughter of Lawrence Van Hook, Esq., formerly one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of New York, who was among the first settlers from the United Netherlands.

In the Revolution Mr. Foster engaged heartily in the cause of civil liberty, and encouraged all who heard him to do their utmost in defense of their rights. In the beginning of 1776 he preached a very patriotic and stirring sermon to the young men of his congregation and neighborhood upon the subject of their duty' to their country in its then trying situation.

On one occasion Mr. Foster was called to Lancas- ter to preach to troops collected there previous to their joining the main army. The discourse was so accept- able that it was printed and circulated, and did much to arouse the spirit of patriotism among the people.

Indeed, the Presbyterian clergymen generally were stanch Whigs, and contributed greatly to keep alive the flame of liberty, which our disasters had fre- quently caused to be well-nigh extinguished in the long and unequal contest, and but for them it would often have been impossible to obtain recruits to keep up the forces requisite to oppose a too often victorious enemy. Some of them lost their lives, and others were driven from their congregations in consequence of their zeal in behalf of their country.

It was a great object with the British officers to silence the Presbyterian preachers as far as possible, and with this view they frequently dispatched parties of light-horse into the country to surprise and take prisoners unsuspecting clergymen.

An expedition of this kind was planned against Mr. Foster. He was a special object for British malevolence, as he had induced so many young men to join Washington's army, which was then lying encamped at Valley Forge. Sir William Howe, the British commander, threatened to hang him to the highest tree in the forest could he but catch him. An expedition was actually sent out by Sir William Howe for that purpose, who sent a body of cavalry to waylay him on his way to the little church in the woods, where he was engaged to preach to a small party of recruits about to join the army at Valley Forge. Mr. Foster was informed of the expedition against him before leaving home by a Quaker neigh- bor, who, although a friend of the British, was also a friend of Mr. Foster, and urged him not to meet his engagement; for if he did he would certainly be hanged and his property destroyed as had been threatened. Mr. Foster, however, insisted on fulfill- ing his engagement, and after removing his family to a neighboring farmer's house, and his library and

valuables to another, he started off to meet the recruits.

In the mean time some one had sent word to Gen. Washington of his danger, who at once sent a com- pany of cavalry to protect him in the little church when he was preaching to the recruits. The British soldiers, after proceeding about twelve miles on their way, were informed by a Tory tavern-keeper that their purpose was known, and that a few miles farther on parties of militia were stationed to intercept them, on hearing which they returned to Wilmington with- out having accomplished their object.

Mr. Foster died on the 80th of September, 1780, at the age of forty years, having been pastor of the Oc- torara Church, in connection with Doe Run, about twelve years. - He had been preaching, and on his walk home was overtaken by a heavy rain, which brought on the attack that terminated his life.

Mr. Foster was evidently a man of very superior mind; and was much esteemed and respected by all who knew him for his solid sense and unaffected piety.

The congregation procured a tombstone to be placed over his remains in the Octorara Churchyard, which bears the following inscription, written by the Rev. Mr. Carmichael :

" HERE LIES ENTOMBED WHAT WAS MORTAL OF THE REV. MR. WILLIAM FOSTER, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE BEPT. THE 30TH, 1780,

OF HIS AGE. Foster, of sense profound, flowing in eloquence, Of aspect comely, saint without pretence, Toster, the brave, the wise, the good, thon'st gone To reign forever with thy Saviour on his throne, And left thy widowed charge to it and weep alone. If grace and gifts like thine a mortal could reprieve From the dark regions of the dreary grave, Thy friend, dear shade, would ne'er inscribe thy stone, Nor with the church's tears have mixed his own."

Mr. Foster left eight children, four sons and four daughters, the oldest about thirteen and the youngest one year of age. His will, executed the day before his death, contained, among others, this provision : "My son Samuel to be made a scholar."

This son became the father of our subject, Henry D. Foster. The estate left by Mr. Foster was not large in point of value, but Mrs. Foster was a very prudent, managing woman, and, under the blessing of Providence, was enabled to raise her children until they were of an age to take care of themselves.

Alexander W. Foster, the second son, studied law with a Mr. Burd, who had an office corner of Ninth and Chestnut Streets, in Philadelphia. After his admission to the bar he was for a while in a law part- nership with George Clymer. In 1796 he and his brother Samuel decided to remove their mother and the remainder of the family out to the western part of the State, where there was a wider field for their talents. They settled in Crawford County, purchas-

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ing a farm on Conneaut Lake, six miles from Mead- ville, for their brothers William and James to cul- tivate, where their mother and sisters lived with them.

In 1802, Alexander W. Foster married Jane T. Heron; the young and beautiful daughter of Capt. I. G. Heron, a retired officer of the Revolutionary war, then living in Franklin, Venango Co. In 1812 be moved to Greensburg, Wesmoreland Co., and prac- ticed his profession there for many years. He with his brother, Samuel B., were among the most eminent lawyers of Western Pennsylvania, and were long re- cognized as the leaders of the bar. He devoted half a century to the labors of his profession, and died in Mercer, 1848, at the age of seventy-two years, after a short illness, resulting from a sudden cold taken while preparing cases to take before the Supreme Court in Pittsburgh. He left a son, Alexander W. Foster, Esq., who became a prominent member of the Pitts- burgh bar. Of his professional standing we have spoken before.

Samuel Blair Foster, the oldest son of the Rev. William Foster, and the father of Henry D. Foster, studied for the ministry at Princeton College, but never preached. He afterwards studied law with his brother, Alexander W., and became an eminent lawyer in Mercer County. He was one of the most brilliant lawyers in the State; his eloquence and ability were of a most striking character. He was profoundly versed in the law, and his counsel was much sought after by those who had intricate law cases. His career, although so short, was remarkably brilliant. He did at the early age of forty years.

He married Elizabeth Donnell, a daughter of Judge Donnell, of Northumberland County. The Donnells were prominent in public affairs in that county.

He left a son, who was destined to become one of greatest lawyers in the nation, and eminent as a statesman. Henry D. Foster received his education at a college in Meadville. He came to Greensburg in 1826, and began the study of law in the office of his uncle, Alexander W. Foster. He often spoke during his lifetime of the following incident, which first determined him to become a lawyer. When about ten years of age, while living in Mercer, he attended court one day for the purpose of hearing his father making a speech in an important case on which he was then engaged. His father's brilliant and elo- quent address so touched the heart and imagination of young Foster that he fully made up his mind on leaving the court-house to become a lawyer also, like his father, and to emulate him in his fame.

He completed his law studies under his uncle's instructions, and was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County on the 26th of: August, 1829, when not quite twenty-one years of age. His certificate of admission to the bar shows that he was examined by John B. Alexander, R. B. McCabe, and Joseph H. Kuhns, Esq., and who on examination recommended him as qualified for

admission. His ability as a lawyer was soon recog: nised, and he rapidly rose to the highest ranks in his profession. He became thoroughly devoted to his profession, and the allurements of political life were not strong enough to make him neglect his legal studies. He was the lawyer and the jurist combined in one, the practitioner as well as the expounder of the law. His mind was an eminently legal one, which, combined with an unerring judgment and an incisive manner, made him a formidable opponent in a lawsuit. He had no liking for criminal cases, but when he was engaged in one he invariably took the side of the defense. Many incidents are related of his habits as a lawyer, of the remarkable insight he had into the character of men, and his ability to handle them. His power over a jury was considered phenomenal, and very few cared to oppose him before a jury. He had an extensive practice and might have become wealthy, but was prevented by his ex- trome liberality to the needy and to his friends. He was generous to a fault. In him the oppressed found a defender, the wronged an advocate, the poor a dis- penser of alms.

Judge Gibeon, Judge Thompson, and H. D. Foster were said to be the three great land-lawyer in Penn- sylvania. Judge Gibson has been heard to say that he regarded Mr. Foster as the greatest land-lawyer in the State.

No man in the State made a better reputation as a statesman than Mr. Foster. He took a commanding position from the time he first entered the political arena. When yet a young man, as far back as 1828, he was noted for his stanch support of the Jackson Democracy. He was three times elected to Congress, and twice defeated. He first served in the Congress of 1842, again in 1844, and for the last time in 1870. He ran for Congress in 1866, but was defeated, and again in 1868, when the returns showed a majority in his favor, but the seat was contested by Mr. Oovode, his opponent, who succeeded in preventing him from taking his seat. He was a member of the Pennsyl- vania Legislature during the sessions of 1857 and 1858, and in 1860 was the Democratic candidate for Governor, his successful competitor being Andrew G. Curtin. It was during this campaign that he had his controversy with Stephen A. Douglas, who wanted Mr. Foster to take sides against Breckenridge, which Mr. Foster refused to do. Breckenridge was a cousin of Mr. Foster. This fact had, however, nothing to do with his position in that famous contest.

Mr. Foster's career in Congress was a notable one. It is said that on the occasion of his famous speech on the tariff question, in 1846, he was warmly con- gratulated by John Quincy Adams, who made the ro- mark that Foster " was the coming man." In the tariff debates of that day he left a record of which any Pennsylvanian might be proud. His bold, manly, clear, and convincing arguments against Mr. Homes, of South Carolina, to repeal the duty on

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railroad iron is a master-piece in itself, both in point of close reasoning and logical adduction, while it demonstrated the fact that he was thoroughly im- bued with a sense of the great importance of the iron industries of the State. The tariff then in force was the highly protective tariff of 1842. Bills were intro- duced in Congress to repeal or modify it and adopt a universal ad valorem principle.

Mr. Foster was offered a number of times, during the period his party was in the majority in this State, the nomination for the judgeship of the Supreme Bench, which he always refused. His only ambition, if, indeed, he had ambition outside the realms of the law, was to become a United States senator. He was supported for the Senate by that wing of the Democ- racy which refused to support John W. Forney for that position. This defection in the Democratic ranks resulted in the election of Simon Cameron. Senator Cameron was always an admirer of Mr. Foster, and after his nomination for the governor- ship he offered him a present of a thousand dollars to help pay his election expenses, remarking, as he made the offer, that though opposed to him in poli- tics he liked him, and wanted to serve him. Mr. Foster, of course, refused to accept the gift. In times of great danger to his party he was always se- lected as the one of the few men who could secure victory to its banners.

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History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches of Many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 80

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: George Dallas Albert, editor
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: