Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 130

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

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Judge Clark's maternal ancestor was Fer- gus Moorhead, who, like Captain Clark, went to Westmoreland county from the Cumber- land valley. As early as 1772 Mr. Moorhead with his family settled near the present town of Indiana. He was more than usually well provided with the goods of this world, and brought to the new home, where land was abundant, a liberal supply of cattle, sheep and other domestic animals and fowls to stock his farm, and implements to cultivate it. Like Captain Clark, he had dangers to encounter. The forests were overrun with savage beasts and peopled with still more savage men. For four years, however, the family was unmo-

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

lested, but in July, 1776, while returning from

After his graduation Judge Clark became the fort at Kittanning, then under command an instructor in the academy in which he of his brother Samuel, his horse was shot had been prepared for college and continned under him, and he was taken prisoner by a in this position for two years. He entered band of Indians, who carried him to Quebec, and sold him to the British. His wife and children, thinking him dead, left Indiana and returned to the Cumberland valley. An ac- count of his capture appeared in the Gazette, Benjamin Franklin's paper, the files of which are still preserved by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. At the close of the Revo- Intion, Mr. Moorhead and his family returned to the border home from which they had been so summarily driven five years before, and there, at the advanced age of seventy-nine, he died. Among his descendants are the pros- perous and wealthy ironmasters of Philadel- phia of that name, and others who have dis- tinguished themselves in professional and business life. into the work with much spirit and earnest- ness, and aroused among the pupils the great- est enthusiasm. The sympathy with school work which was implanted during that period never abated. Soon after he was admitted to the bar, and while a young and struggling lawyer, he was elected director of the public schools of the town, and for twelve successive years served the people faithfully and effi- ciently in that important capacity. Later on he became one of the projectors and founders of the Normal School at Indiana, of which he was from the first a member of the board of trustees and most of the time president of that body. The great success of the insti- tution is attibuted largely to his intelligent efforts in its behalf. In recognition of his long and faithful service in the interests of educational progress Lafayette College in 1886 conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, and the compliment was never bestowed upon a more deserving re- cipient, or the judicial ermine more appro- priate for the person of anyone.

In 1835 James Clark, Esq., the father of Judge Clark, removed from Elderton and set- tled in Indiana, the county seat of Indiana county, where he resided in the enjoyment of the respect of his fellow-men, by whom he was honored with every evidence of con- fidence and esteem, and had conferred upon him many offices and positions of trust. He died in September, 1891.

With such an ancestor it is not surprising that Judge Clark exhibited the characteris- ties that distinctly marked him, namely, warmness of heart, courage, tenacity of pur- pose and public spirit. He was essentially a man of the people, and through all his busy life found pleasure in serving his neighbors. His own success only multiplied the oppor- tunities to help those less fortunate, and he was as free with his means in the dispensing of charity as he was generous in giving aid and assistance to deserving young men enter- ing the struggle of life.

Judge Clark obtained his rudimentary edu- cation in the public schools of Indiana, in which he continued as a pupil until he was sufficiently equipped with learning to enter the academy of the town. There he pursued the course of study that prepared him to enter the junior class of Jefferson College at Can- onsburg, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1852, standing fifth in a class of about sixty members. He was an adept in mathe- matics, a fluent and forceful speaker, and in literature excelled. In recognition of this the Philo Literary Society invited him to deliver the valedictory address on the occasion of the semi-centennial anniversary of the college.

After two years of service as an educator Judge Clark abandoned the profession and entered the law office of William M. Stewart, a prominent lawyer of Indiana, and in 1857, at the age of twenty-three years, was admit- ted to practice at the bar of Indiana county. Then, as now, the bar of the county embraced some of the strongest lawyers in the State, but the young aspirant for legal honors was not long in making a place for himself among the most successful, and it is a matter of rec- ord that during the ten years preceding his elevation to the Supreme bench not a single case of importance was tried in the county in which he did not appear as counsel. His fame was not limited to his own connty, either, and during the period of his success- ful practice he received many tempting offers to conduct important cases tried elsewhere. But, as a rule, all such offers were declined, for unless the persons interested were per- sonal friends or home clients he preferred to attend to his extensive and lucrative practice in his own district rather than go to other fields.

In his law practice Judge Clark was al- ways a clear and profound thinker, a strong and logical reasoner, and an eloquent advo- cate of surpassing power. It was a hopeless case, indeed, where he failed to secure a

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

favorable judgment or verdict. Whether interest in education. His interest in agri- arguing questions of law before a court, or culture was not less; he took time in the questions of fact before a jury, the strong points of his case were so strongly and forcibly presented that the weak ones were likely to be lost sight of altogether. Nor was it in the trial of causes alone that he ex- celled. Contracts, wills and other legal papers prepared by him were so skillfully ex- ecuted. contingencies so carefully provided for and guarded against, and their terms so clearly expressed, that they never gave rise to litigation by reason of their ambiguity.

Judge Clark inherited his political convic- tions, as his other characteristics, from his ancestry, and from boyhood was a Democrat. While he held it to be both the right and duty of every citizen to maintain his political con- victions fearlessly, and share the labors and responsibilities of citizenship, he was never an office-seeker, and, with the exception of mem- bership in the Constitutional Convention of 1873 he never held any office except that of Justice of the Supreme court. As a member of the Constitutional Convention he served on the following committees: Declaration of Rights, Private Corporations and Revision and Adjustment. Of that hody of Pennsyl- vania's representative men he ranked as one of the ablest, and Mr. Buckalew, himself a member, in his very able work, "The Consti- tution of Pennsylvania," referring to the dis- cussion of the judiciary article, makes spe- cial mention of some of Mr. Clark's speeches, remarking that they were among the ablest upon the subjects discussed. During his long career at the bar he was frequently invited to accept nominations for office, but invariably declined, with the exception named and one other. He was nominated for president judge of the judicial district composed of Indiana, Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, and was defeated by Hon. James A. Logan, the adverse majority in the district being too great for one of even his popularity to over- come. His election to the Supreme bench oc- curred in November, 1882, and he entered upon the duties of his office in January fol- lowing, serving for a period of about eight years, when he died.

Judge Clark met and discharged the duties of advanced citizenship in such a manner as to win the respect, esteem and confidence of all classes of his fellow-men. Every enter- prise having for its object the advancement of the general welfare or the improvement of his town found in him an energetic and active supporter. We have spoken of his

midst of his large practice not only to culti- vate a fine farm that he then owned, but to serve for several years as president of the Agricultural Society of his county, then one of the most flourishing in the State. Perhaps the very best evidence of the esteem in which Judge Clark was held by his fellow citizens in his county is the fact that in the election to the Supreme bench they gave him a ma- jority of one hundred and fifty-one votes over his Republican competitor, whilst the Repub- lican candidate for governor at the same time had a majority of two thousand. In his judicial capacity he stood very high, and was regarded universally by the profession as one of the ablest members of the court. His opinions, singularly short, were couched in the clearest and choicest language, and as readily understood by the layman as the law- ver. Many of them received favorable com- ment from the law critics in the leading periodicals in the country, and all of them were models of forceful and graceful rhetoric.

Upon the death of the late Hon. Morrison R. Waite, chief justice of the United States Supreme court, the leading newspapers of the State, irrespective of party, pointed to Judge Clark as a man eminently qualified to fill the exalted position thus made vacant. In the support of their petition it was argued that he was in full vigor of intellect and physical strength, young enough to promise a pro- tracted period of useful work, and old enough to bring to the position ripe experience, and an able and honorable record, both at the bar and on the bench.

On April 26, 1859, Judge Clark married. Clara Elizabeth Moorhead, daughter of Wil- liam Moorhead, late of Pittsburg, Pa. Her death, which occurred Jan. 17, 1887, was the one great sorrow in Judge Clark's otherwise happy and successful life. To speak publicly of a nature so modest and simple, and a life so private as Mrs. Clark's, seems almost a wrong, but a sketch of her husband, however slight, would be incomplete without refer- ence to the woman whose gentleness and cour- age and wisdom were the good angels that, from his earliest manhood, breathed their benedictions upon him. Mrs. Clark was one of the women whose lives are noiseless, who live at home-she was a wife, a mother, yet her character was so firm, tranquil and self- possessed, that it would have met without doubt or hesitation any form of suffering for conscience or duty. Her absolute truthful-

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

ness was a standing rebuke to falseness and for these churches, and as the result of his pretense, and the memory of her loyalty and labors nearly twenty congregations were built unselfishness is a perpetnal blessing. In his up out of them-an unparalleled fact in the beautiful home life Judge Clark's warm do- history of the United Presbyterian denomin- mestic and social nature found its truest ex- ation. While inheriting the sturdy independ- pression. There he met his friends and neigh- ence and iron-willed determination of his own bors in genial intercourse and hospitality, race, he was remarkably liberal, charitable and enlightened in his views. Rev. W. S. Owens and there, amid the highest charms of life, his children grew to maturity. He died Nov. pays this just and eloquent tribute to his 20, 1891. character :

JUDGE JOHN P. BLAIR, late of Indiana, was a noteworthy descendant of a time-hon- ored family and a fitting representative of that grand old Scotch-Irish race so distin- guished for high moral character, unflinching courage and undying patriotism. He ranked high among the foremost jurists and ablest lawyers of Pennsylvania. He was born at Indiana, Indiana Co., Pa., son of Rev. David and Margaret (Steele) Blair, March 28, 1835.

Among the liberty-loving and God-fearing Scotch-Irish Presbyterian families of the North of Ireland was the Blair family from which Judge Blair was descended. His pa- ternal grandparents, Ilugh and Jane Blair, were members of the Donagar Associate Pres- byterian Church and were highly respected

in the community in which they resided. land of his noble lifework as an able minister

They were the parents of eight sons and three daughters. They came to the United him. States in 1802, and after spending one win- ter at Steubenville, Ohio, removed to near Hartstown, Crawford Co., Pa., where Hugh Blair purchased a 400-acre tract of land. Here he died Jan. 5, 1837. when in the ninety-sixth year of his age. His wife had preceded him to the grave, having passed away on March 10, 1835, aged ninety years.

Rev. David Blair, eighth son of Hugh and Jane Blair, was a graduate of the oldest theol- ogical seminary of the new world and the founder of the United Presbyterian Church in Indiana and adjoining counties. He was born

John P. Blair was reared at Indiana, and after completing his academic studies entered Washington College, from which he was grad- uated in the class of 1852. In 1853 he en- tered the law office of his eldest brother, Hon. Samuel S. Blair, of Hollidaysburg, and after the required course of reading was admitted to the bar in 1856. During the ensuing year he located at New Castle, Lawrence county, this state, where he practiced until 1859. when he was elected district attorney of that county. He resigned when the Civil war broke out and enlisted in Company F, 12th Regiment, Penn- in the parish of Donagar, in Antrim, Ireland, sylvania Volunteers. At the end of his three in November, 1786. In early life he was months' term of service he reenlisted, and was somewhat delicate. Having fitted for col- lege with Rev. Mr. McLean, he entered Jeffer- son College in 1810 and would have graduated in the class of 1812 if his health had not given away early in that year. Recovering somewhat, he spent the required four sessions at Dr. Anderson's theological seminary, was ordained in October, 1818. to the ministry of the Associate Presbyterian Church, and in- stalled as pastor of the united congregations of Indiana. Crooked Creek and Conemaugh. He spent nearly half a century in laboring

"He resisted the narrow spirit of exclusive- ness and advocated always the broad princi- ples of Christian charity and unity. No man worked harder to secure that happy union of 1858 (Union of Associate and Associate Re- formed Churches) which gave birth to our United Presbyterian Church. In the great Civil war he was a Union man and his pulpit gave forth no uncertain sound on the mighty issues then pending."

In 1821 Rev. David Blair married Margaret Steele, of Huntingdon, who was a help meet to him in the fullest sense of that term. After a long life of quiet and unostentatious usefulness she died April 6, 1865, when in the sixty-fourth year of her age. In 1862 he re- signed from active pastoral work. In 1882, in the ninety-fifth year of his life and in the and excellent man, death quietly summoned

elected first lieutenant of Company I, 100th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He held this position until after the battles of second Bull Run, Chantilly and Antietam, when the company, whose ranks had been greatly thinned by the battles through which it had passed, was consolidated with Company G. and he was commissioned captain of the new- formed company, which was designated as Company G. When Hilton Head and Beau- fort were captured, in the fall of 1861, he was detailed from his company to act as provost

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marshal and judge advocate general of the Port Royal district, which position he held until his brigade was sent north to join Mc- Clellan on the Peninsula. He was twice wounded. At the first assault of the enemy's earthworks in the rear of Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, a grape-shot struck his sword and inflicted a wound in his side, and at the second Bull Run battle, where his com- pany suffered severe loss, he received a pain- ful gunshot wound. After passing through the campaign against Vicksburg, under Grant, and the campaign in east Tennessee, under Burnside, he suffered from a fever, the seeds of which were sown at Vicksburg, and which clung to him so tenaciously as to even- tually disable him for further service, and he was honorably discharged May 31, 1864. Soon afterward and before his own recovery his mother died, leaving his father alone- the other children being married and residing elsewhere, and at the request of his father he left New Castle and commenced the practice of his profession at Indiana, when his health was sufficiently restored, in the fall of 1865. He was soon employed in important cases and

docket to his successor in office at the end of his ten-year term. He decided causes upon their merits alone after such careful and thorough examination of every authority bear- ing upon them as the circumstances would allow, and by his entire impartiality and able decisions won the esteem of the public and at- tained high standing as a judge before the Supreme court. The records of his district will show that, notwithstanding the number of jury cases tried by him, he has the rare dis- tinetion of never being reversed in any of them. At the end of his term, in 1885, he re- sumed the practice of law in Indiana, which he continued successfully, his work extending into various other counties and before the Supreme court of Pennsylvania. Judge Blair was a regular attendant of the Presbyterian Church and a member of the Union Veteran Legion. He was a stockholder, and director and solicitor and president, of the First National Bank of Indiana. He had one of the finest residences and most beautiful homes in Indiana county.

On Feb. 14, 1866, Judge Blair married Elizabeth Sutton, daughter of James and in a short time attained a high standing at the Sarah Sutton, of Indiana. They became the bar. He tried his cases upon their merits, parents of three children, two sons and one daughter : Margaret S., James S. and David.

became an impressive, earnest and successful jury pleader and developed those qualities so In politics Judge Blair ever steadfastly held to the principles of the Republican party. As a lawyer he was well read and easily grasped the salient points of his cases. As a counselor his comprehensive knowledge of the general principles of law rendered his advice very valuable and as a jury pleader he was logical in argument and convincing in manner. Be- fore public bodies or in large assemblages and important gatherings he was a strong and im- pressive speaker, clothing logical arguments in appropriate and eloquent language. He died Jan. 19, 1913. essential to a calm, unbiased and unimpas- sioned consideration of legal matters. His ability, learning and thorough knowledge of the law recommended him to the public as capable of filling the highest judicial position within the gift of the people of Indiana county, and in 1874 he was elected president judge of the Fortieth Judicial district of Pennsylvania, composed of the county of Indiana. When Judge Blair took his seat on the bench he found the business of the dis- trict many years behind, owing to the fact that the county had previous to his election been included, with Armstrong and West- CHESTER MUNSON LINGLE, general manager of the Graceton Coke Company, of Graceton, Pa., and president of the Homer City National Bank, is a native of central Pennsylvania, having been born at Osceola Mills, Clearfield county, July 11, 1874, son of L. G. and Gertrude A. (Munson) Lingle. moreland counties, in the Tenth Judicial dis- trict of Pennsylvania, and its judge had found it impossible to keep up the business of three counties. Judge Blair entered upon the duties of his office with the purpose and am- bition of disposing of this accumulated mass of business, still further increased by the The father of Mr. Lingle, who died in 1886, was a native of Center county, and became 'a well-known mining engineer and coal op- erator. He served as a soldier during the Civil war. He married Gertrude A. Munson, daughter of Chester Munson, and a descend- financial disturbances commencing in the fall of 1873, with such rapidity as would be con- sistent with care and accuracy, and would leave the dockets entirely clear at the end of his term. It was no ordinary task, but a labor of gigantic proportions; yet he suc- ant of one of the oldest and best-known fam- ceeded in its accomplishment and left a clean ilies of Hartford, Conn .; her great-grand-

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

father, Almond Munson, served as a soldier during the Revolutionary war.

The boyhood days of Chester M. Lingle were spent at Philipsburg, where he attended the graded and high schools. The death of his father occurred when he was but twelve years . of age. During his vacations, in the summer months, when the other lads of his acquain- tance were engaged in recreation, young Lingle worked as a trapper in the coal mines, following this occupation for two seasons. Desiring to follow the vocation of his father, he then started to study mining engineering under A. V. Hoyt, who was a well-known min- ing engineer at Philipsburg, and continued with that gentleman until 1899, when he ac- cepted a position with the American Coke Company, of Fayette county. He rose to the position of chief engineer with that concern, but in 1901 left to become chief engineer of the Sharon Coke Company, at Ronco, Fay- ette county, and two years later took the po- sition of chief engineer with the Briar Hill Coke Company, also of Fayette county. At the above named places plants were con- structed and various extensive improvements made under his supervision. In 1904 he ac- cepted the position of superintendent of the Graceton Coke Company, of Graceton, In- diana county, and in 1907 was made general manager of the concern, succeeding Col. Ever- hart Berier. During his administration of affairs the growth and development of the town and plant have been marked. A num- ber of new houses have been erected, in ad- dition to a fine large general store and the Methodist Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches, plant No. 2 has been constructed and the school enlarged, and the population has increased twenty-five per cent. The town now has over 160 homes, and over 250 hands, of different nationalities, are employed in the company's plant. Mr. Lingle takes a deep and active interest in the growth and pros- perity of the town and the welfare of its people, is a stanch advocate of education, and as such is serving as school director, and as a firm believer in the worth of good roads is acting as supervisor of Center township. In 1904 he was appointed postmaster at Grace- ton, under President Roosevelt's administra- tion, and still continues to act in that ca- pacity. In his political views he is a stanch Republican. Fraternally he is connected with Moshannon Lodge, No. 391, F. & A. M., and Clearfield Chapter, R. A. M., and also holds membership in the Sons of the American Rev- olution, the Pennsylvania department of the

Sons of Veterans, the American Institution of Mining Engineers, the Cosmopolitan Club of Indiana, Pa., and the Pittsburg Athletic As- sociation. He was one of the organizers and is president of the Indiana County Automo- bile Club. He was one of the organizers and one of the first directors of the Homer City National Bank, of which he served as vice- president for two years; in June, 1911, he was elected its president, succeeded himself in that office in January, 1912, and has contin- ued to hold this position of great trust and responsibility to the present time, to the gen- eral satisfaction of officials and depositors. Mr. Lingle in religion is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he has served as a member of the board of trustees. and in all circles of activity in Center town- ship is a man who has the respect and esteem of those with whom he comes in contact. His duties in the various relations of life are nu- merous and onerous, leaving him little time for recreation, but when he feels that he has earned a rest he takes a vacation and goes on a hunting and fishing trip, being very fond of both sports.

In October, 1902, Mr. Lingle was married, in Fayette county, Pa., to Loretta P. Neff, daughter of Maj. Gen. W. Neff, M. D., and three children have been born to this union, namely : Loretta Neff, Gertrude Munson and Carolyn.

WILSON C. DAVIS, of Saltsburg, Indi- ana county, has been interested in the lumber business there for over a quarter of a cen- tury and is one of the notably successful men of the borough. He was born Oct. 24, 1848, in Allegheny, Pa., son of George and Martha (Crawford) Davis, and is of Scotch-Irish extraction on both sides.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 130

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930