USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume I > Part 26
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In the year 1891, when the office of City Treasurer became vacant by the resignation of the then incumbent, Mr. Bardsley, the County Commissioners elected Mr. Oellers to fill this import-
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ant municipal office, a selection which was immediately confirmed by a similar action on the part of City Councils. A technical question arising, however, as to the actual power of appointment in a case like this, the matter came before the Supreme Court of the State for adjudication, the decision being that the appointing power was vested in the Governor of the State and not in City Councils. Governor Pattison, in pursuance of this decision, ap- pointed a Democrat to the position and Mr. Oellers vacated the office, which for a short time he had very satisfactorily filled. Although but a few weeks in command of the finances of the city, and essaying their management at a time when they were in a most muddled condition, Mr. Oellers displayed so much sagacity in untangling the mixed up affairs of the office that his work commanded wide attention, and subsequently his name was presented on all sides as a suitable candidate for a full term. In September, 1894, the Republican Convention nominated him for City Treasurer, and on election day, November 6, he led the Republican ticket with the tremendous majority of 86,384. During his term he introduced many reforms in the conduct of the office; he handled thirty millions a year without a penny going astray, and he also had the satisfaction of placing, rapidly and effectively, two popular loans of $1,200,000 each, which were disposed of in a short time at the low interest of three per cent.
In former years Mr. Oellers took a very active interest in Free Masonry, and he has occupied nearly all the highest stations in this important order. He is Past Master of Crescent Lodge, No. 493; Past High Priest of Temple Chapter, No. 248; and Past Eminent Commander of St. Alban Commandery, No. 47, Knights Templar. He is a prominent member of several social organiza- tions, among them being the Union League, the Columbia Club, and the Five O'Clock Club, and he has a large acquaintanceship among the leading men of the mercantile, professional and finan- cial world. Mr. Oellers is a very helpful member of Grace Bap- tist Church, Broad and Berks streets, Philadelphia, the largest church in the city, seating over three thousand persons. He is President of the Board of Trustees.
S. DAVIS PAGE.
HE legal progress of Pennsylvania, its historical interests, and the financial and political affairs of the city of Philadelphia have been the branches of public development which have always interested S. Davis Page, whose office is at No. 726 Drexel Building, Philadelphia. He is the head of the well known law firm of Page, Allinson & Penrose, and his connection with Phil- adelphia's municipal career for a period of twenty years has been an important one, while in the general affairs of the State lie is a prominent figure.
S. DAVIS PAGE was born September 22, 1840, in the house of his grandfather, Samuel Davis, 256 Chestnut Street (old style), which was then on the south side of the street, between Ninth and Tenth streets. His father, William Byrd Page, an eminent physician in his day, was the son of William Byrd Page, a mem- ber of one of the old families of Virginia, whose father, John Page, coming from lower Virginia, settled on his estate of Page- brooke, in that State, in the latter part of the last century. Dr. Page's mother was Evelyn Nelson, and both she and his father were grandchildren of William Byrd, of Westover, and Mary Willing, his wife, who was the great-granddaughter of Edward Shippen, of Philadelphia. Mr. Page's mother was Celestine Anna, daughter of Samuel Davis, of the Quakers of New Bedford, Mas- sachusetts, and Maria Clarissa Vidal, his wife, of the Spanish Creoles of Louisiana. S. Davis Page received his preparatory education at the Gregory and Williams schools, of Philadelphia. In 1855 he entered Yale College, and was graduated with honor from its Department of Arts, with the class of 1859. He read
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law with Peter McCall, once the Mayor and then a leader of the Bar of Philadelphia, and attended the law school of the Universities of Pennsylvania and of Harvard. He was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia County in 1864, and has practiced his profession since that time with assiduity, only interrupted by travel and the demands of politics and public office. Twenty years after his admission to the Bar, Mr. Page established, with Edward P. Allin- son, the law firm of Page & Allinson, to which, a few years after, Boies Penrose, now United States Senator from Pennsylvania, was admitted as a partner, the name of the firm being changed to Page, Allinson & Penrose, and into that organization Mr. Page's son, Howard Wurts Page, was afterwards admitted.
In February, 1883, Mr. Page was made City Controller, and served until January, 1884, his short occupancy of the post being distinguished by a splendid administration of its affairs. He served as Assistant Treasurer of the United States at Philadel- phia from August 3, 1886, to July, 1890, and in that office won the esteem and admiration of all with whom he came in business contact. In municipal affairs Mr. Page exhibited an active interest, and during the period immediately following the Centennial Cele- bration he was deeply concerned in the welfare and advancement of his native city, taking an active part in its government. He served as a member of Common Council from January 1, 1877, to April 1, 1881, and from April of the following year, 1882, having been again elected, until his resignation, in February, 1883. Mr.
Page has always been a Democrat, and has never had any other political inclination, and his successes have been won in the face of Republican majorities. In November, 1879, he was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for the office of City Treasurer of Phil- adelphia, and, in November, 1882, he once again represented the Democracy in the contest for that office. In November, 1883, Mr. Page was nominated by the Democratic party for the office of City Controller, which last post he had held under a commission from Robert E. Pattison, Governor of Pennsylvania, from February 7, 1883, after the latter's accession to the Governorship of the State, in January of that year.
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From January, 1890, to January, 1892, Mr. Page was President of the Quaker City National Bank, and he has been a Director thereof ever since, and he was a Director of the Merchants' Trust Company for six years. In fact, to whatever branch of profes- sional, public or business work Mr. Page directed his energy, suc- cess attended his efforts, for he entered into his work at all times with a spirit of unfailing enterprise and unwearied industry and a determination which was undoubtedly a part of his heritage. In 1891 Mr. Page was one of a Commission chosen by Governor Pattison to investigate the accounts of John Bardsley, City Trea- surer, with the Keystone National Bank, and report as to the disposition of State moneys collected and used by him. In 1894 Mr. Page was sent by the same Governor to the Congress of Bankers and Financiers at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and read there an elaborate paper on the Resources, Finances and Bank- ing System of Pennsylvania as a delegate and representative from that State.
On September 25, 1861, Mr. Page was married, in Philadelphia, to Isabella Graham, daughter of William Wurts and Elizabeth Tate, of Philadelphia, and has three children, Howard Wurts Page, Ethel Nelson Page and William Byrd Page, their mother having died March 23, 1867. He is interested in various societies, being a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, of the Penn- sylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of the Colonial Wars in Pennsylvania, and of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, of which last organization he is one of the council.
EDWARD M. PAXSON.
IN that chapter of Pennsylvania's history which is con- tained in the proceedings of the Supreme Court Bench during the past half century or so, the name of Edward M. Paxson prominently figures. He is a Pennsylvanian born, and as a scholar, journalist, advocate and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court he has won an honor and eminence both highly deservable.
EDWARD M. PAXSON, formerly Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was born in Buckingham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, September 3, 1824. He is the son of Thomas and Ann Johnson Paxson, and his paternal ancestry is traced back to Bycot House, Buckingham, Bucks County, England, where a branch of the family has been living since the days of William the Conqueror. He is a descendant, on his mother's side, of William Johnson, a native of Ireland, who settled in New Jersey before the Revolutionary War, and afterward became a Professor in a South Carolina College. Judge Paxson received his education at the Quaker schools. Colleges were not at that time held in high favor among the Friends, and he did not therefore reap the benefits of a collegiate education, but the excellence of the Quaker schools atoned for this in a large measure. A literary inclination early displayed itself in Judge Paxson's mind, and he established, when but eighteen years of age, the Newtown Journal, at New- town, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He had previously mastered the practical part of the business, and the Journal, under his management, became prosperous and influential. In 1847 he sold his printing establishment at Newtown and came to Philadelphia, where he founded the Daily News. This paper he disposed of
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the next year, and then entered the law office of Henry Chapman, of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, as a student. He was admitted to the Bar of that place, April 24, 1850. Two years later he moved to Philadelphia and began the practice of his profession. He quickly reached a high position at the Bar, and became the trusted counselor for prominent business men, who confided large interests to him.
When F. Carroll Brewster resigned from the Bench of the Common Pleas, in 1869, to accept the Attorney-Generalship of Pennsylvania, Governor Geary appointed Mr. Paxson to fill the vacancy. The Republican party, at the convention held the fol- lowing June, in recognition of the marked ability shown by him, tendered him unanimously the nomination for the same position, and at the following October election he was chosen by a vote which ran much ahead of his ticket. The record made by Judge Paxson in the lower court commended him to the nomination for a higher seat, and, in 1874, at the first election under the new Constitution, he was elected to the Supreme Court, receiving his commission on December 2, 1874. Judge Paxson at once took a commanding position among his judicial brethren, which he has since steadily maintained by his industry and ability. His opinions evidence an accurate knowledge of the law, which is always made comprehensible to others by a diction terse and appropriate. Many most important cases brought before the Supreme Court, involving millions of dollars, have been committed to his hands, and thus is shown the confidence reposed in him by his associates in office. Noteworthy among these are the Williamsport Bond Case, the Pittsburg Bond Case, the Pittsburg Riot Case and the case of Asa Packer vs. Noble.
In addition to his voluminous work on the Bench, Judge Paxson has edited Brown's Collection Laws, and also the mem- ories of the Johnson family, printed for private circulation. The latter work was a memoir of his maternal ancestry, comprising a family of very eminent, talented and cultivated people. Thomas P. Johnson, a great-uncle of Judge Paxson, was among the great- est lawyers New Jersey ever produced. Stanley Matthews, Asso-
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ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was descended from the same Johnson stock. Judge Matthews' grand- mother and Judge Paxson's grandfather were brother and sister, and the legal bent of both Judge Matthews and Judge Paxson may be said to have been inherited. Judge Paxson became Chief Justice of Pennsylvania by seniority on the first Monday in January, 1889.
Judge Paxson was married, April 30, 1846, to Mary C. Newlin, of Philadelphia, daughter of the late Nathaniel Newlin, of Dela- ware County. She died at Bycot House, Buckingham, Pennsyl- vania, June 7, 1885. On December 1, 1886, Judge Paxson was married a second time to Mary Martha S. Bridges, widow of the late Congressman Samuel A. Bridges, of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Judge Paxson's career has been characterized by sterling integrity, untiring industry, and conscientious, systematic and thorough examination of all matters brought before him which merited his attention. He is one of the ablest contemporary lawyers. On February 18, 1893, he was appointed, by the Circuit Court of the United States, Receiver of the Reading Railroad Company, and he resigned from the Supreme Bench. On April 20, 1897, he resigned the office of Receiver of the Reading Railroad Company. F. C. B.
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CLEMENT B. PENROSE.
EVER has there been a professional body in the history of the United States which has numbered among its members more brilliant men than the Bench of Pennsylvania. From the very foundation of the Commonwealth until the present day its legal history abounds with instances of the height to which men may attain if, back of ability, they have the determination to suc- ceed. One of the best known men of Pennsylvania, and a jurist of recognized ability and wide influence, is Judge Clement Biddle Penrose, of the Orphans' Court Bench of Philadelphia. Judge Penrose has occupied a position in the field of legal lore pecu- liarly his own for a number of years. As a member of the Bench he has displayed a wide erudition which is but the natural out- come of the able talents he evinced while still a member of the Bar.
CLEMENT BIDDLE PENROSE was born in Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, on the 27th day of October, 1832. He comes of a family renowned through several generations for the number of useful and brilliant men it has given to the community. The Penrose family has, in fact, been known from the very beginning of the State's history and can trace its genealogical lines back through the most notable periods in the annals of the Commonwealth. From his paternal ancestor Judge Penrose inherits rare mental qualities and an aptitude for professional life which marked many members of that house. From his mother, Valeria Fullerton Biddle, he received the benefits of a noble lineage. Charles Bingham Penrose, his father, was one of the best known men in Pennsylvania during his time. In 1841 the elder Penrose, who
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was then a prominent lawyer, was appointed Solicitor of the Treasury at Washington by President Harrison and remained in that post during the following administration of President Tyler. The family resided in Washington, and it was there that Judge Penrose received his early education. He went to the public schools of the Capital from 1841 to 1845, when, upon removing to Lancaster, he entered the Franklin College, of that city, where Frederick A. Muhlenberg, afterwards a Professor of Greek at the University of Pennsylvania, was Principal. He remained there for two years, and, in 1847, when the family came to Philadelphia, he entered the Sophomore class of the University of Pennsylvania. On July 3, 1850, he graduated, having given every attention to the studies which had been included in his course. Judge Pen- rose, from his earliest youth, was impressed with the opportunities afforded by the legal profession and felt that he could advance himself in his community more rapidly in this than in any other vehicle for his ambitions. He commenced the study of the law in the office of his father and, applying himself assiduously, was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia on November 19, 1853, after three years' clerkship in the office of his father, who had then associated with him Henry M. Watts. He practiced in Philadel- phia and met with considerable success, acquiring an exhaustive knowledge of the law in all its details. In 1868 he was made Vice-Provost of the Law Academy of Philadelphia, a post of honor which he has ever since held.
In 1878 a vacancy was occasioned on the Bench of the Or- phans' Court by the death of Judge O'Brien, who had, since the organization of the Court, been a member of that body. It became necessary to appoint a successor, a duty which fell to the lot of Governor Hartranft. Clement B. Penrose was one of the most prominent and successful lawyers of the Philadelphia Bar, and his fitness for the judicial body was undisputable. In February, 1878, Governor Hartranft appointed him to succeed Judge O'Brien. As a member of the Orphans' Court, Judge Penrose won the esteem of the entire city for his judicial fairness as well as for his able decisions which were distinguishing features of many
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notable cases. In the fall of 1878 he was elected by the people to fill the same office for a term of ten years, commencing Jan- uary 1, 1879. During this entire term Judge Penrose adminis- tered the law with an erudition and fairness that commanded admiration from all sides. At the expiration of his term he was again elected and will remain on the Bench until 1899. Judge Penrose's identification with politics has always been very slight, for he has been more the jurist and scholar than the politician, and his election on both occasions was the result, chiefly, of his reputation as a lawyer and his thoroughness as a Judge.
Judge Penrose was married, September 30, 1857, to Mary, daughter of Stephen B. Linnard. They have had two sons and six daughters. The eldest son, Charles B., died January 6, 1887; the second son, Stephen B. Linnard, is President of the Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. In social life Judge Penrose occupies a position of considerable prominence, but he gives his chief attention to the duties of his high and important office, wherein his chief interests are found. Judge Penrose, in a word, is a model as a member of the judiciary and an official to whom the city of Philadelphia aud the State may well point with pride.
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SAMUEL C. PERKINS.
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EW men of Pennsylvania can point out a longer or more active career of service than Samuel C. Perkins, who, as a member of the legal profession, as a promoter of the general prosperity, and a public man, has held public attention for upwards of fifty years. Coming from old American stock, and the descen- dant of a long line of prominent men, all of whom were possessed of a progressive temperament, in Mr. Perkins are united many of the best qualities of his progenitors.
SAMUEL C. PERKINS was born November 14, 1828, at Phila- delphia, and, through a long and active career, has been identified for many years of residence with its chief business and profes- sional interests. His father was Samuel H. Perkins, who was the son of Samuel Perkins, of Windham, Connecticut, a graduate of Yale in 1785, Samuel H. Perkins being a graduate of the same college in 1817. The latter was admitted to the Bar of Philadel- phia in 1820, and was one of the most prominent men of the State, being identified with a number of the leading organizations, such as the Masonic body, the Odd Fellows and others, in which he held the highest offices. He died May 22, 1874. Mary Feariss Perkins, the mother of the subject of this biography, was a daughter of Major Nathaniel Donnell, of Lieutenant-Colonel Ebenezer Stevens' Corps of Artillery in the army of the Revolution. One of Mr. Perkins' ancestors, Jolın Perkins, Sr., came from Newent, Gloucestershire, England, in 1631, and settled in Massachusetts. Some of his descendants removed to Connecticut, and Mr. Perkins now occupies his grandfather's residence at Windham during the summer. Samuel C. Perkins' early education was received at the
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Academy of Thomas D. James, and afterward at that of Rev. Willard M. Rice, by whom he was fitted for college. He entered Yale in September, 1844, and graduated in 1848, being the thirty-third of his name to attain college honors at the same institution. In his youthful days he had decided to adopt some profession, and, as he progressed in his schooling, his ambition narrowed down to a desire to succeed at the Bar, for which he studied long and earnestly. He was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia in 1851, and to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1853. Branching out still further in his chosen profession, he was finally, in 1874, admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, and in these three juris- dictions he has since conducted some of the most important cases on the dockets. In fact, Mr. Perkins, as a lawyer alone, has won a wide recognition, while, at the same time, he has indicated his ability in other fields.
Far back, before the Civil War, Samuel C. Perkins was well known in the administration of the city's local affairs, serving as a member of Common Council in 1857. Since 1855 he has been a Commissioner of the United States Court of Claims, an office for which he is peculiarly adapted by reason of his practical knowl- edge and his wide experience. Since 1876 Mr. Perkins has been Solicitor of the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, and in that capacity has had the handling of some very delicate points, tech- nical and otherwise. It is, however, as a member of the Public Buildings Commission that Mr. Perkins is best known, and in that office he has played a most important part in the advance- ment of his native city. In 1872 he was elected by his fellow commissioners President of the Board, and has served as such ever since. Not alone in the legal and political fields is he well known, but in social affairs, and in the advancement of Pennsylvania's higher interests he takes an active part. He is a member of the Numis- matic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia, of the Historical Society, and Horticultural Society of Pennsylvania. Being pos- sessed of an ancestral record such as comparatively few of the promi- nent men of to-day enjoy, he is fully conversant with the early
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history of the country, and one of his most notable social connec- tions is that of corresponding member in the New England Historic- Genealogical Society.
As an indication of Mr. Perkins' progressive temperament, his history as a collegian points out many qualities of an admirable nature. After graduating from Yale in 1848, he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1851, the degree of LL.D. in 1888; and from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1852, that of LL.B. He was President of the Yale Alumni Association for eleven years, from 1878 to 1889, and of the Psi Upsilon of Philadelphia from its foundation to the present time. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of Yale, and served as President of the University Club for seven years, and of the Law Alumni Association of the University of Pennsylvania from 1877 to 1890. On February 16, 1863, Mr. Perkins was elected a member of the Union League of Philadelphia, and, in 1869, he was made a Director, serving until 1876. He was elected in 1879, 1880, 1885, to 1889 as Director, and was made Vice-President from 1880 to 1883, and from 1891 to 1894. He was made a Grand Master in the Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania in 1871, serving until 1873, in the September of which year he dedicated the Masonic Temple, at Philadelphia. Mr. Perkins served as First Lieutenant of the Landis Light Battery of Philadelphia in emergencies of 1862 and 1863, being in action at Sporting Hill and Carlisle. In church matters he has not been less active, and for fourteen years was Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, Washington Square, Philadelphia, while from 1870 until the present time he has been an Elder therein. He was three times Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and, in 1884, he was sent as a Delegate to the Third General Council of the Pres- byterian Alliance, at Belfast, Ireland. On April 12, 1855, Mr. Perkins was married to Mary Hooker Packard, daughter of Fred- erick A. Packard, LL.D., and Elizabeth D. Packard, formerly Miss Hooker, both of whom came from very prominent New England families. This union resulted in three children, all of whom died in earliest infancy.
ROBERT PITCAIRN.
HE vast railroad system which joins Pennsylvania's great commercial centres together and forms a net- work of traffic between consuming and producing points; and which unites the prosperity of the farmer with that of the mechanic, and the welfare of the manufacturer with that of the financier, may be well termed the arterial strength of the Commonwealth. In the building and extension of these great railroads Robert Pitcairn, the subject of this biography, was an important factor.
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