USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume I > Part 28
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As I have entered upon my fifty-ninth year at this Bar, I trust in a fairly good form, I may be indulged in saying a few words on this memor- able occasion. During that time I have been present at eleven cere-
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monies of this character-Judges Burnside, Krause, Olmstead, Smyser, Chapman, Ross, Stinson, Boyer, Swartz, Weand, and your Honor. They were all silent, formal, and dignified functions. And so is this one, excepting a slight and harmless innovation that I am making, simply because I have a personal desire to do so.
It is a noteworthy fact that five of the last named judges are of the manner born, and the six first named were not. It now looks as if we will be able to supply ourselves in the future and no longer go outside.
I have known your Honor personally from childhood as a playmate of my two sons, with just enough boyish mischief in you to make you inter- esting and attractive; followed you as a law student, then before the board of examiners, signed your certificate for admission to the bar, and delivered you my usual lecture to be always good and true, and since continuously to date; and my benediction is: "Well done, thou good and faithful."
The Bar's testimonial to Governor Stone, and no rival, echoes the same. Under such unusual and extraordinary conditions you cannot be other than the proudest and happiest man in our midst. You deserve it all, and I heartily congratulate you. You have but to continue as in the past, good, true and kind to all, especially to the juniors when they first nervously enter upon their professional career. Such is the experience and belief of a veteran.
Judge Solly feelingly responded :
Colonel Boyd and Gentlemen of the Bar: For the kind words just spoken by Colonel Boyd, the veteran leader and Nestor of the Bar of this county, he has my grateful appreciation. Coming on this unusual event in behalf of the Bar, in the evening of his professional life, loved and hon- ored by us all, knowing him personally longer than I do any other mem- ber, and remembering his kind advice of twenty-two years ago, it is indeed a proud moment of my life to have him testify publicly to fidelity, to honor, truth, honesty and industry.
The many advantages of the establishment of this Court in our great progressive county with its varied industries and its many interests, will manifest this, and the people will be satisfied of the wisdom of the departure. The confidence, esteem and respect of the members of the Bar and the people of the county, exhibited in the request made to the Governor to appoint the Judge to preside over this Court, has touched me deeply. It will be my constant aim to administer the duties of the high office with the deepest sense of responsibility thereof, without fear or favor, and to hold the scales of justice evenly. I bespeak the assistance and indulgence of the members of the Bar at all times, that this Court may add lustre to the fame of the Bench of this county, adorned as it has been and now is by gentlemen of the highest ability, learning and Chris- tian character.
The remarks of both were directed to be spread upon the records of the new court.
John S. Jones was then quickly appointed court crier, and opened the new court for the first time in Court Room No. 2, set apart for the new court. Rhine Russell Freed, register of wills and ex-officio clerk of the Orphans' Court, was sworn in as clerk of the new separate Orphans'
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Court by Judge Solly, and so was Harry W. Aikens as deputy clerk. The official seal of the former Orphans' Court was ordered adopted and to be delivered by Isaac N. Cooke, the ex-clerk, to Mr. Freed, the new clerk. An order was filed adopting the former rules of the Orphans' Court, so far as applicable, until the further order of the Court. The Court also appointed Montgomery Evans, F. G. Hobson, James B. Hol- land, Muscoe M. Gibson and William F. Dannehower a committee to prepare rules for the regulation of the practice of the Court, and make report to the Court on or before July 1, 1901. The new Court, thus organ- ized, then proceeded to take up the business of the Court. On July I, ten different books of record were ordered to be procured.
The rules of the new court were reported in due course, printed, and adopted August 29, 1901, to go into effect September 2, 1901. The same rules, barring a few amendments, are in force to-day, so ably and care- fully were they prepared with the active cooperation of the new judge.
From the start, this Court sprang into prominence as one of the leading and most efficient Orphans' Courts in Pennsylvania. The orderly and methodical mind of Judge Solly was diligently applied to devising forms, dockets and best methods to conduct the business of the Court, second to none in the State; and this high standard has been maintained to the present day. The business of the Court has been enormous and laborious, but Judge Solly has despatched it with the utmost ability and patience. Not only has he kept abreast with the business of his own Court, but on frequent occasions has sat on the Common Pleas bench, and especially on the Criminal Court Bench.
The wisdom of the establishment of a separate Orphans' Court and the surprisingly gigantic amount of work it is doing, is shown at a glance of a few figures covering the period from June 10, 1901, when it was organized, to January 1, 1923:
Accounts of fiduciaries filed, 8,617; accounts audited and confirmed, 8,594. Total amount in value of estates audited and distributed, $262,- 893,835.88; average per year, $12,227,620.93; average per month, over $1,000,000.
Appointment of guardians and trustees; petitions for sale or mort- gage of real estate; confirmations of same; allowances for minors; widows' exemptions; and miscellaneous petitions, etc., 11,232.
Exceptions to adjudications; appeals from Register of Wills and transfer inheritance tax appraisements; and other matter on Argument Lists, 217.
Appeals taken from decrees to Appellate Courts, 25 ; appeals affirmed, 21; appeals reversed, 4; appeals in cases tried by Judge Solly in the Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, all affirmed, 5.
Average number of wills probated per year, 450; average number of letters of administration granted per year, 375; yearly average of mar- riage licenses issued, 1,400.
In the fall of 1901, Judge Solly was elected for a term of ten years, and reelected for like terms in 1911 and 1921, the last time without oppo-
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sition. His present term expires on the first Monday of January, 1932. He is conducting a model Orphans' Court.
The Special Act of 1901, establishing a Separate Orphans' Court in this county, is supplied by the Orphans' Court Act of 1917 or by the Fiduciaries Act of 1917, except perhaps the provision of Section 6 of the Act of 1901, that no appeal should stay execution of a final decree unless notice of such appeal and security be given within twenty days after the time of making the decree.
District Attorneys-Prior to 1850 the Commonwealth was represented by Deputy Attorney Generals, district attorneys being made an elective office by Act of May 3, 1850. There is no complete record of the men who have held the office of Deputy Attorney General in Montgomery county, but the appended with the dates of their appointment are known : John H. Scheetz, 1829; David H. Mulvaney, 1836; G. R. Fox, 1840; John H. Hobart, 1845; B. Markley Boyer, 1848.
The following have been elected district attorneys in Montgomery county since 1850, when the office of prosecuting attorney was made elective : Benjamin E. Chain, 1851-54; John H. Hobart, 1854-57; George W. Rogers, 1857-60; S. N. Rich, 1860-63; Enoch H. Banks, 1863-66; Charles Hunsicker, 1866-69; George W. Bush, 1869-72; Henry U. Brun- ner, 1872-75; Jacob V. Gotwalts, 1875-78; J. Wright Apple, 1878-81 ; Irving P. Wanger, 1881-84; John W. Bickel, 1884-87; Irving P. Wanger, 1887-90; Henry M. Brownback, 1890-93; James B. Holland, 1893-96 Jacob A. Strassburger, 1896-99; Abraham A. Hendricks, 1899-1905; Con- rad S. Sheive, 1905-08; Jeremiah B. Larzelere, 1908-12; Conrad S. Sheive, 1912-16; J. Aubrey Anderson, 1919-20; Frank H. Renninger, 1920 to date.
In 1911 the term of district attorneys was increased from three to four years.
The appointment of two assistant district attorneys, with the appro- val of the president judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions, was provided ior by the Act of April 17, 1905. The following is a list of those appointed under said Act: Under District Attorney Larzelere, 1908-12: Charles McAvoy and John B. Evans; under District Attorney Sheive, 1912-16: Abraham H. Hendricks and J. Aubrey Anderson ; under District Attor- ney Anderson, 1916-20: Abraham H. Hendricks and Frank H. Renninger.
The Act of April 18, 1919, provided for the appointment of an addi- tional assistant district attorney to be known as an Indictment and Cost Clerk. This Act first applied to the appointments made by District Attorney Renninger, 1920-24, to wit: Abraham H. Hendricks, J. Bur- nett Holland, George C. Corson.
The Bar-In the Province of Pennsylvania, the institution of judicial proceedings and the recognition of the judicial office preceded the pres- ent acknowledged usefulness of lawyers. The early judges, as seen above, were unlearned in the law. This was practicable among the early
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settlers with their primitive manners and unimportant litigation. The office of attorney was considered incompatible with the despotic preten- sions of those who. ruled in the names of their sovereigns by "divine right." The people might and did appear to "plead their own cause."
The first seat of justice was established in 1662, at Upland, now Chester. For several years civil and criminal cases were tried under the crude forms instituted by the Swedish justices of the peace. The change of the control of the Province from the Swedes to the Dutch did not change the methods of administering justice, nor removing justices then in office. The English in 1662 superceded the Dutch. They recognized the Upland Court as a legal tribunal, having legal and appellate juris- diction of all litigation within the Province.
Ten years later, in 1682, William Penn came to Upland and officially announced himself to the justices there. His frame of government made ample provision for the establishment of courts of justice, the appoint- ment of justices, and necessary officials, together with proper compensa- tion and emoluments, nevertheless, he early betrayed his fear of the legal profession and hostility to it by bringing about in 1686 the adoption of a law "for the avoiding of too frequent clamors and manifest inconveni- ences which actually attend mercenary pleadings in civil causes." In other words, a lawyer must not take a fee for his services. The words. of the law were: "No person shall plead in any civil causes in any court whatsoever within this province and territories, before he solemnly attested in open court that he, neither directly nor indirectly, hath in anywise taken or will take or receive to his use or benefit any reward whatsoever under penalty of five pounds if the contrary be made to appear." The founder of the colony, it is evident, did not want to lend encouragement to lawyers whose learning and influence would make them potential in public affairs.
Notwithstanding these and other discouraging circumstances, the need for professional advocates was quickly discerned by the people, not only to resist official encroachments upon private rights, but also to investigate titles to real estate, preserve the public peace, defend the innocent and convict the guilty.
The authorization of paid advocates was hastened by Penn himself- by his strange inconsistency. When John White was appointed on August 25, 1683, Provincial Attorney General, Penn himself paid him liberally for prosecuting all matters in the interest of the proprietor, but no defendant could, under Penn's own regulations, employ counsel in his defense, against Penn. This caused great agitation among the people and Penn finally was compelled to repeal the above stated law and per- mit the retention and payment of professional advocates. Lawyers, however, were not raised to the Bench until after the Revolution.
The Montgomery County Bar takes high rank among similar bars not only in this State, but also throughout the United States. The emi-
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
nence of this Bar is due chiefly to the large and varied interests of this rich and prosperous county, giving rise to an immense volume of legal business, and the nearness of its county seat to Philadelphia, long a cen- ter of legal learning where the courts are almost in continuous session. The Philadelphia lawyer has long been famous for legal acumen and legal knowledge. In the earlier days and also in recent times, many prominent and successful lawyers of the Philadelphia Bar have taken leading parts in cases tried in this county, notably Attorneys Kittera, Dallas, Wilson, Biddle, David Paul Brown, Daniel Dougherty, and John G. Johnson. Local lawyers are also frequently engaged in the trial or hearing of causes in the Philadelphia courts, and do not suffer by com- parison with the "city lawyer." Contact with the astute legal lights of the country and their methods and demeanor has had, and still has, a salu- tary influence not only on individual members, but also on the character and ethics of the entire bar. The skill and legal acumen shown by the Bar as a whole owes much, too, to the many able and learned judges that have graced the woolsack of the Montgomery county Bench. It has even been frequently said that cases, civil or criminal, are tried in the Mont- gomery county courts better and more skillfully than even in the Phil- adelphia courts.
This Bar can boast of a long list of eminent legal practitioners. Among the earliest lawyers who attained prominence at the Montgom- ery county Bar were James Morris, James Biddle, John D. Coxe, Levi Pawling, Nathan R. Potts, Philip S. Markley, and John Henderson.
A later generation of bright legal lights shone during the incumbency of Judges Burnside, Krause and Smyser, from 1841 to 1862. "There were giants in those days." They were Thomas M. Jolly, John Freed- ley, William Powell, Philip Kendall, Benjamin F. Hancock, John B. Steriges, Benjamin Powell, James M. Pawling, Daniel H. Mulvany, Joseph Fornance, Sr., John Henry Hobart, Henry Freedley, Gilbert R. Fox, Sr., Col. James Boyd, B. Markley Boyer, Francis Dimond, Addi- son May, John R. Breitenbach, Benjamin E. Chain, Charles H. Garber, Richard T. Stewart, George W. Rogers, Charles H. Stinson, Abraham B. Longaker, Zadok T. Galt, Joseph W. Hunsicker, Henry McMiller, Joseph S. Allabough, Henry W. Bonsall, Enoch A. Banks, Charles T. Miller, George N. Corson, Jackson Anderson and Charles Hunsicker.
When "the model judge" Chapman, the brilliant Judge Ross and the astute Judge Boyer occupied the Bench between 1862 and 1887, the crop of lawyers that were prominent were Aaron S. Swartz, Henry K. Weand, Franklin March, George W. Bush, Jacob R. Hunsicker, H. B. Dickinson, Miller D. Evans, Joseph Fornance, Henry U. Brunner, Daniel Jacoby, Henry R. Brown, Jacob A. Gotwalts, Col. Theodore W. Bean, and J. Wright Apple.
A new harvest of lawyers flourished during the long judicial reigns of the able and industrious Judge Swartz and the ready and facetious
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Judge Weand (sprinkled among them being some of the oldest lawyers of the last mentioned group) subsequent to 1887, outstanding among whom, who are now deceased, were John W. Bickel, J. P. Hale Jenkins, J. A. Strassburger, Freeland G. Hobson, Walter S. Jennings, Isaac Chism, Samuel Money, Jr., Joseph T. Foulke, Jeremiah B. Larzelere, James B. Holland, Edward E. Long, Albert R. Place, Edward F. Kane, Jacob B. Hillegass, and many others who are still living.
The writer knows of no record of the Bar acting as a body, prior to 1885, when the Bar Association was organized. Before that time the Bar invariably held memorial meetings on the death of a member and the resolutions adopted were usually spread upon the records of the Court; but no effort was made to preserve a record of the Bar meetings. This, however, is done by the Association. Full minutes are kept of the memo- rial meetings, the resolutions adopted and spread upon the records of the Court; and data are collected and preserved of the funerals, interments and biographies clipped from the local newspapers. The history of the Bar as a collective unit since 1885 is merged in the history of the Bar Association.
Occasions that brought members of the Bar together prior to 1836 were "settling the docket" at the Washington House (now the site of the Montgomery Trust Company) at the end of every term when the. trial list was called by the presiding lawyer and judgment was entered when there was no defense or pleadings, and where there was a defense, a plea was directed to be entered, with or without a narr, as might be agreed upon. The affair ended with a convivial "term supper ;" or, in Judge Ross' time, the making up of a list of "short cases," when Colonel Boyd usually presided, but the meeting did not conclude with a "supper."
The following is a list of regular practicing resident members of the Montgomery County Bar, with date of their admission :
Anderson, J. Aubrey, October 1, 1906. Anders, Monroe H., October 10, 1910.
Brownback, Henry M., December 4, 1882. Bennett, Edwin J., December 11, 1896. Brecht, George K., December 5, 1898. Brunner, Charles H., July 1, 1901. Bean, Theodore Lane, March 2, 1903. Bradley, Frank J., April 17, 1911. Brownback, Russell J., April 7, 1922. Brooke, Paul M., October 9, 1916.
Childs, Louis M., March 14, 1876. Chain, B. Percy, May 7, 1883.
Conver, Samuel D., October 10, 1910. Corson, George C., January 18, 1915. Cochran, Joseph H., December 13, 1915. Corson, C. Russell, October 18, 1917. Cohen, Hyman Harry, April 4, 1919.
Dannehower, William F., June 7, 1880. Dettra, John M., December 14, 1886. Dannehower, William F., Jr., Oct. 4, 1915.
Evans, Montgomery, December 2, 1878. Egbert, Eugene D., February 7, 1881. Evans, John B., October 5, 1896. Evans, Jesse R., October 1, 1906. Emery, A. Clarence, October 7, 1907.
Evans, Daniel L., October 7, 1907. Egan, James Herbert, June 30, 1920.
Fornance, Joseph, April 12, 1866. Freedley, Henry, November 5, 1878. Fox, Gilbert R., May 23, 1885. Fox, Henry I., March 4, 1895. Fornance, Joseph Knox, October 7, 1907.
Fegley, Nelson P., November 6, 1911. Foulke, Thomas A., October 24, 1921.
Gibson, Muscoe M., June 7, 1883. Gentry, Frank S., March 6, 1905.
Hallman, Ellwood L., January 15, 1881. Hendricks, Abram H., June 2, 1890. High, Samuel H., July 1, 1899. Hoover, G. Carroll, July 1, 1901.
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Hooven, Miss Emeline H., July 6, 1903. Hallman, Thomas, February 14, 1905. Hiestand, Harry I., April 20, 1908. Hallman, Abram D., July 1, 1910. Holland, J. Burnett, March 3, 1913.
Jenkins, G. Herbert, June 1, 1896.
Knipe, Irvin P., June 4, 1889. Knight, Harold G., March 12, 1904. Keely, Wallace M., September 5, 1911.
Larzelere, Nicholas H., September 29, 1877. Larzelere, C. Townley, February 6, 1911. Lenhardt, Elgin H., October 4, 1915.
Meyers, William F., March 12, 1888. Moore, Herbert U., March 4, 1901. McAvoy, Charles D., June 28, 1902. Moyer, Edward C. A., March 27, 1907. Matthias, Norwood D., October 10, 1910. Moore, F. Kenneth, March 16, 1914. Miller, Daniel Yeakel, October 3, 1916.
Potts, Robert T., November 17, 1913.
Prince, Joseph L., February 19, 1917. Pennell, Edred J., April 24, 1917.
Renninger, Frank X., July 2, 1906. Roberts, Miss Rebecca Mcl., Feb. 6, 1911.
Slough, Ephraim F., February II, 1881. Saylor, Henry D., February 5, 1883. Stinson, C. Henry, June 7, 1886. Styer, Freas, October 5, 1887. Shaw, Walter M., December 3, 1888. Stahlnecker, H. Wilson, July 6, 1903. Swartley, Francis K., September 19, 1904. Swartz, Aaron S., Jr., October 16, 19II. Strawbridge, Maxwell, February 21, 1913. Saylor, Harold D., December 23, 1918.
Tyson, Neville D., August 17, 1869. Tracy, Henry M., September 13, 1882.
Wright, Franklin L., October 1, 1906. Wismer, Ralph F., February 6, 1911. Wismer, Eli F., February 21, 1916. Wanger, George, October 3, 1911.
Young, William P., March 3, 1902.
Montgomery County Bar Association-The Montgomery County Bar Association was organized in the law library of the court house of 1854, March 14, 1885. A goodly number of the members of the local Bar were present. Colonel James Boyd, the Nestor of the Bar, was chosen as tem- porary chairman, and Louis M. Childs, as temporary secretary. After an interchange of views as to the propriety of forming an association and as to its nature and purpose, on motion of William F. Dannehower it was unanimously agreed "that the members of the Montgomery County Bar form a Bar Association." On motion of George W. Rogers, the chairman appointed the following committee of five to formulate and report a constitution and by-laws for adoption, viz .: George W. Rogers, Benja- min E. Chain, Joseph Fornance, Henry Freedley, Jr., and Louis M. Childs. At the same meeting active operations were begun by directing the same committee to draft and report a minimum fee bill, and instruct- ing the secretary to communicate to the county's representatives in the legislature, then in session at Harrisburg, the sense of the meeting, which had been taken, that the bill then pending permitting attorneys of one county to practice in all other counties of the State without formal admis- sion, should not be passed.
At an adjourned meeting held in the Law Library on April 4, 1885, the constitution and by-laws reported by the committee, were, after amend- ments, unanimously adopted. The annual meeting of the Association was to be held in January of each year, and stated meetings quarterly. The officers were to be a president, a vice-president, a secretary, a treas- urer, and a committee of five censors. Membership was confined to members of the Montgomery County Bar. The membership fee was fixed at $1, and the annual dues at fifty cents, afterwards raised to $1.
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Fifty-one members of the Bar signed the constitution and by-laws, and became full-fledged members of the Association. The original mem- bers were: Benjamin E. Chain, G. R. Fox, Colonel James Boyd, Geo. W. Rogers, Charles Hunsicker, H. U. Brunner, Irving P. Wanger, Aaron S. Swartz, H. K. Weand, Colonel Theo. W. Bean, J. P. Hale Jenkins, Neville D. Tyson, Joseph Fornance, Louis M. Childs, Montgomery Evans, N. H. Larzelere, Jacob A. Strassburger, Walter S. Jennings, F. G. Hob- son, John W. Bickel, Charles T. Miller, Henry R. Brown, Jacob V. Got- walts, Wm. F. Solly, J. Wright Apple, Miller D. Evans, James B. Hol- land, H. D. Saylor, Freas Styer, Eugene D. Egbert, M. M. Gibson, Isaac Chism, E. L. Hallman, E. F. Slough, H. M. Brownback, B. Percy Chain, Henry Freedley, Jr., Geo. G. Hoover, G. R. Fox, Jr., Wm. F. Dannehower, D. Ogden Rogers, Samuel Money, Jr., Frank H. Baker, Henry C. Boyer, James W. Schrack, Wm. M. Clift, Frank S. Murphy, W. Henry Sutton, Albert R. Place, Edward E. Long, Capt. William Rennyson.
B. Markley Boyer was the judge of the courts in 1885, and was not asked to become a member of the Association, nor did he request mem- bership. The succeeding judges were not considered members of the Association, but were invariably invited to its social and gastronomical functions as honorary guests. This, however, was not altogether to the liking of Judges Swartz, Weand and Solly. On April 17, 1905, they announced in a written communication that they had no objections to being considered active members of the Association, with the duties and liabilities of membership, but reserving the right to retire from meetings when questions arose which might restrain comment or check freedom of debate thereon in their presence. From thenceforth they were regarded as active, full-fledged members. All of them were active members when they were elevated to the Bench.
The objects of the Bar Association are: (1) The general supervision of the conduct of the members of the Bar and others officially connected with the administration of the law or charged with keeping the public records; (2) in cases of any breach of their duties, the institution of lawful and proper proceedings against them; (3) the improvement of the law and its administration ; and (4) the protection of the Bar and of judicial tribunals, their officers and members, from invasion of their rights, and the maintenance of their proper influence.
Besides the usual officers, a committee of censors was provided for, consisting of five members, with power to elect its own officers, keep a record of their proceedings, establish rules for their government, and to carry out the objects of the Association. Upon written complaint their duty is to investigate charges of unprofessional conduct or other official delinquency against members of the Bar, improper official conduct against officers and members of judicial tribunals, and violation of the
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