USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > The courts of justice, bench & bar of Washington County, Pennsylvania > Part 4
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" WASHINGTON, July 11, 1785.
" DEAR SIR:
"Inclosed is a warrant for holding an Election for Justices of the peace in the [ district of the ] township of Donigall, and a Return thereupon.
" I wish through you to inform council that the Mr. Wil- liamson Elected, is the same Col. Williamson who [ killed] Slaughtered the Moravian Indians. If this deed may be thought a defect in his Character (which many of us think), it is not the only one; nor can I easily paint him better than [in the following familiar and homely phrases, to wit, ] by just telling council that he is a foolish [gawky ] Impertinent & Insolent Boy, totally void of all the nesessary qualifications for so important a trust.
" Although the [foregoing ] is my own settled opinion of
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the man, [yet ] I have not wrote it [Intirely ] of my own mere notion; it has been Injoined on me officially by many of the better people of the county.
" The other Gentleman Elected is personally unknown to me; but from Good Information I have it, that he mintains the Character of an honest, Judicious and sensible man.
" I have the Honour to be, " With Great Respect, "Sir, your very Hum. Servt.
" JOHN ARMSTRONG, JUN. EsQ. "Secretary."
" THOS. SCOTT.
This letter, never before printed except in an address at the Monongahela City Centennial, November 15, 1892, pub- lished in 1895, is in the handwriting of Thomas Scott, our first prothonotary and clerk of courts, and was found of late years in the following manner: In the earliest dockets in the prothonotary's and clerk's offices was occasionally seen a brief entry with reference to a record paper, " In Noah's Ark." What did this mean? was a question asked again and again, when the papers could not be found in the files of the case with which the entry appeared on the docket. But it was answered at a later date, when in a large under-drawer or case was found a lot of miscellaneous papers, some of which were indorsed, " For Noah's Ark." The letter above copied is out of Noah's Ark.
It thus appears that Colonel Williamson, although popular with the mass of the people, did not become a justice of the peace and a judge of our courts, for his competitor received the commission; yet at a later day he regained his influence with the public generally, and in 1787, and again in 1789, he was appointed and duly commissioned as the high sheriff of Washington County.
Under the constitution of 1776, with the judicial system referred to, our president judges were as follows, in the order of their selection:
ALEXANDER WILSON, ADMITTED, 1826 ; DIED, 1846. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph with Mr. D. S. Wilson, from ivorytype.]
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COLONEL HENRY TAYLOR.
Henry Taylor,1 commissioned August 24, 1781. Dorsey Pentecost, commissioned October 31, 1783. Henry Taylor,' commissioned September 30, 1788.
1351121 COLONEL HENRY TAYLOR.
This Henry Taylor, who had the honor of being the first president judge of our courts, had come from Cecil County, Maryland, about 1769 or 1770, to the "Rich Hills," about a mile and a half northeast of Washington, where two great-grandsons, George F. and John R. Taylor (sons of Matthew), now reside. Late in life he built the brick house on an adjoining property (owned afterward by Wilson Mc- Lane, later by George Munce), where he lived till his death, on October 8, 1801, sixty-three years of age. He was the father of nine children: Matthew, Henry, George, John, James, Joseph, Jane (married a Dagg), Mary (married a Patton), and Eliza (married a Dr. Layton). By his son Matthew he was the grandfather of Matthew, who died lately on the old homestead, now occupied by his two sons above named, and of William H. Taylor, deceased, of Washington, Pennsyl- vania. Hon. James Franklin Taylor, now the additional law judge of our county, a son of William H. Taylor, is therefore a great-grandson of Hon. Henry Taylor, who was known also as Colonel Henry Taylor, from his connection with the county mi- litia, which meant something in his day. On April 19, 1793, the year of Wayne's expedition against the western Indians, Colonel Taylor was commissioned by Governor Mifflin "Brig- adier-General of the Brigade composed of the militia of the County of Washington, other than the townships of Greene, Cumberland, Morgan, Franklin and East Bethlehem," these townships, except the last named, being in what is now Greene County, cut off from Washington County, as we shall see, in 1796.
Henry Taylor and Dorsey Pentecost made, of themselves, much of the early history of Washington County.
1 See foot-note to the sketch of Hon. Alexander Addison, post.
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COLONEL DORSEY PENTECOST.
Dorsey Pentecost, known also as Colonel Dorsey Pentecost, was from Virginia, it is thought, and settled in the "Forks of the Yough," in what is now Rostraver Township, Westmore- land County. He was a justice of the peace of Cumberland County in 1770, of Bedford County in 1771, though not for Westmoreland County when erected out of the same lands in 1773. When the Boundary Controversy between Pennsyl- vania and Virginia was on, he was from the first to the last a partisan of Virginia. In 1777 he removed from the Youghio- gheny region to the eastern branch of Chartiers Creek, pur- chasing from Paul Frohman a tract of about 1,400 acres near Linden, in North Strabane Township, near which, probably adjoining, he soon purchased other lands, of which those now or lately owned by the McClelland brothers formed a part. In this locality he lived till his death in 1802.
At the first general election for Washington County he was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council, and took his seat November 19, 1781, and on October 31, 1783, he was appointed president judge of our courts, being the first com- missioned specially for that office; Henry Taylor, his prede- cessor, being presiding judge by reason of being the first named in the general commission.
In 1785, without doubt because of extensive land specula- tions and a miserable currency, he had become seriously involved, and having made arrangements for the disposal of his lands, he went into Frederick County, Virginia, and while there, on November 29, 1786, he was suspended from his office as president judge, and the courts remained as consti- tuted prior to his appointment until September 30, 1788, when Henry Taylor was commissioned specially as president judge: Crumrine's History, 240.
Dorsey Pentecost left surviving him his widow Catharine (Beelor) and three sons: Joseph, a distinguished lawyer
DRAGOUN PGH
JAMES WATSON, ADMITTED, 1831 ; DIED, 1875. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from steel-plate print with Mrs. A. G. Hopper, a daughter.]
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COLONEL DORSEY PENTECOST.
of the early Washington bar, admitted in 1792; Dorsey, grandfather of A. J. Pentecost, auctioneer, Allegheny City, and George W., who served in the war of 1812, and died unmarried, and five daughters: Margaret, married Ashley, Virginia; Catharine, married first, Rabb, Uniontown; second, Vance, Uniontown; Sarah, married Ezekiel Graham, Cincin- nati; Lucy, married James Ashbrook, of the early Washing- ton bar, admitted in 1798, and Rebecca, married Mordecai Hoge, of Steubenville.
The only representatives of Dorsey Pentecost now in Washington County are in the family of George Pentecost, son of Joseph, and now deceased, of West Middletown, who left three children: Joseph H., who died on March 26, 1865, of wounds received the day before in an assault upon Fort Steadman, near Petersburg, Virginia, being then Lieutenant- Colonel, commanding the One Hundredth Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, known as the "Roundheads;" Clarissa, wife of Rev. William S. Eagleson, of Columbus, Ohio, and Thomas M., living at West Middletown to-day.1
Our second constitution, adopted in convention on Septem- ber 2, 1790, made quite a radical change in our judicial system, the nature of which was as follows:
By Article V., Section II., the judges of the Supreme Court and of the several Courts of Common Pleas should hold their offices during good behavior, and were remov- able by the governor on the address of two-thirds of each branch of the legislature, then consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, the Supreme Executive Council being abolished.
For the Court of Common Pleas, which now became the
1 It should be remembered that the data for the biographical and genealogical notes in this volume were sought for and obtained from written or printed records, or, in the absence of such records, from de- scendants of the particular individuals, and in many instances from both sources. No one should need to be told of the difficulties to secure abso- lute accuracy after a century has elapsed; but all will kindly assume that no effort has been spared in that direction.
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principal court, by Section IV. the governor was to appoint in each county "not fewer than three nor more than four" judges, who during their continuance in office should reside in such county. The state was to be divided by law into circuits or districts, none to include "more than six nor fewer than three" counties; and there was to be appointed a president of the courts in each district, who during his continuance in office should reside therein. "The president and judges, any two of whom shall be a quorum, shall com- pose the respective Courts of Common Pleas."1
By Section VII. the judges of the Court of Common Pleas of each county, any two of whom should be a quorum, should compose the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace and the Orphans' Court thereof, and the register of wills, together with the said judges, or any two of them, should compose the Register's Court of each county.
Of justices of the peace, now no longer members of the county court, by Section X. the governor was to appoint a competent number "in such convenient districts in each county as are or shall be directed by law." These were to be commissioned during good behavior, but were remov- able on conviction of misdemeanor in office, or of any in- famous crime, or on the address of both houses of the legislature.
In the selection of sheriffs and coroners there was no sub- stantial change. Two persons for each office were chosen by the electors, and but one (and either) was commissioned to serve for three years. The sheriff could not be twice chosen in six years. The prothonotary and clerk (one person might hold these offices) was appointed and commissioned as hereto- fore by the Governor: See 3 Dall. L. xxii .; 4 Carey & B. xix .; 3 Sm. L. xxxV.
Preparatory for the reorganization of the judicial system under the foregoing constitution, the general assembly on
1 For the character of these early courts see 3 McMasters' History of the People of the United States, 153.
Brandon
WILLIAM McKENNAN, ADMITTED, 1837; DIED, 1893. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from steel-plate print in Crumrine's "History of Washington County," 1882.]
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HON. ALEXANDER ADDISON.
April 13, 1791, passed an act dividing the state into five cir- cuits or judicial districts: The First, of Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, and Delaware counties; the Second, of Chester, Lancaster, York, and Dauphin counties; the Third, of Berks, Northampton, Luzerne, and Northumberland counties; the Fourth, of Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Huntington, and Mifflin counties; and the Fifth, of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Allegheny counties: 3 Dall. L. 92; 4 Carey & B. 59; 3 Sm. L. 28.
At this date, and until the act of February 9, 1796, 3 Sm. L. 262, Washington County included the whole of Greene County, but in 1788 a part of Washington County on the north had been taken to form Allegheny County: See acts of September 24, 1788, 2 Sm. L. 448, and of September 17, 1789, 2 Sm. L. 492. Another part of Washington County on the north was taken to form a part of Beaver County, by the act of March 12, 1800: 4 Dall. L. 583; 6 Carey & B. 115; 3 Sm. L. 421.
Section III. of the act of April 13, 1791, referred to, pro- vided that in and for each of the said districts or circuits, a " person of knowledge and integrity, skilled in the laws, shall be appointed and commissioned by the governor to be the President and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas within such district," and for the appointment and commissioning of a number of "other proper persons, not fewer than three nor more than four," as judges, whose terms of office should begin on September 1, 1791.
HON. ALEXANDER ADDISON.
The first president judge appointed for the Fifth District under this Constitution and the act of Assembly referred to, was Alexander Addison, whose commission bears date August 22, 1791, and who served until succeeded by Samuel Roberts in 1803. His associate judges during his term were Henry Taylor, James Edgar, James Allison, and Matthew Ritchie, commissioned August 17, 1791; William Hoge, commissioned
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April 6, 1798; and John McDowell, commissioned April 7, 1802.
Hon. Alexander Addison was a native of Scotland, proba- bly of English descent; born in 1759, educated at Aberdeen University, and licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Aber- lour. Emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1785 and coming directly to Washington County, he was taken with "some limitation " under the care of the Redstone Presbytery, on December 20, 1785, and permission given him to preach within its bounds.
Whatever of this distinguished judge's early life was made known to our people here at the time he came among them more than a century ago, it had all been forgotten, apparently, at least, even among the few descendants from him still to be found. Since the foregoing paragraph was written, however, interesting details of his earlier history have been obtained from his early home in Scotland.
Mr. P. J. Anderson, librarian of Aberdeen University, and author of a History of Marischal College, wrote of date Sep- tember 9, 1901 : " Alexander, son of James Addison, Keith, entered Marischal College, Aberdeen, in 1773, and graduated M. A. in 1777."
This led to a correspondence with Rev. Stephen Ree, minister of Boharm, Keith, who gave the details following, transferred to these pages in his own language :
" Alexander Addison was appointed schoolmaster of the parish of Aberlour, Banffshire, at Martinmas, 1775. He was a native of the parish of Keith, Banffshire, being the son of James Addison there ; had already completed two years of attendance at Marischal College and University, Aberdeen ; he continued his attendance at the University, providing a substitute to teach at the school of Aberlour during the winter sessions, 1775-76 and 1776-77, and took the degree of M. A. in 1777 (Anderson's Fasti Academia Mariscallana, ii., 345). He studied divinity and was licensed to preach by the Pres- bytery of Aberlour on 4th September, 1781, and on 16th September of the same year he became assistant to the Rev.
ALEXANDER ADDISON, ADMITTED, 1787; DIED, 1807. PRESIDENT JUDGE, 1791-1803. [Half-tone by Bragdon, from photograph of silhouette, presented to the Washington Bar Association by Miss Eliza A. Darlington, granddaughter.]
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HON. ALEXANDER ADDISON.
James Ogilvie, minister of the parish of Rothes. £ Rothes was a parish in the same presbytery, and distant only about six miles from Aberlour ; and he was thus able to continue his duties as schoolmaster of Aberlour on the week days, while conducting public worship at Rothes on the Sundays. In the Session Record of Rothes there is this note: '13 March, 1785. Preached Mr. Alexander Addison for the last time, he being to go to America soon.' He acted as clerk to the Presbytery of Aberlour from May, 1778, to the 7th December, 1784, on which latter date it is recorded that 'Mr. Alexander Addison signified that, as he was about to leave the country soon, he could not serve them any longer as clerk, and craved extract of license and also certificate of moral character during his residence within the bounds of this presbytery ; which the presbytery agreed to.' He demitted his office of schoolmaster of Aberlour in March, 1785. (Records of Presbytery of Aberlour, and of Sessions of Aberlour and Rothes).
" Rev. John Grant, minister of Dundorcas in the Presby- tery of Aberlour from 28th Sept., 1758, to June, 1783 (when the parish of Dundorcas was suppressed and divided between the parishes of Boharm and Rothes); of Boharm in the Presby- tery of Aberlour, from June, 1783, to 14th October, 1788; and of Elgin in the Presbytery of Elgin from the 14th Octo- ber, 1788, to his death on 22nd October, 1814. He married 11th February, 1760, Anna, second daughter of Lewis Grant of Wester Elchies, Morayshire, and by her, who died 20th April, 1764, he had two daughters - Anna, born 1 August, 1762; Jean, born 24 July, 1763."
In the letter of Rev. Mr. Ree, of date "Boharm Manse, Keith, 7 October, 1901," accompanying the foregoing, he writes further :
"I do not know which of the two daughters of Rev. John Grant was the judge's wife ; but I have added a note regard- ing him, which may not be uninteresting as giving the dates of their birth.
"I am sorry that I do not know anything about the Judge's father, James Addison. The name Addison still
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occurs in the parish of Keith, but I have never heard that they were related to the Judge."
Now, for Judge Addison's history as a Presbyterian minis- ter in Washington County.
In the record of the Eleventh Meeting of the Presbytery of Redstone, at Pigeon Creek, on December 20, 1785, is the following entry:
"Mr. Alexander Addison, a candidate from the Presbytery of Aberlour, in Scotland, having produced a copy of his licen- sure, and a certificate of his good deportment from said Pres- bytery, and having also applied to this Presbytery to be taken under our care, the Presbytery proceeded to make some inquiries of him, in order to their having clearness for said purpose; but after conversing with him at some length, did not obtain the satisfaction desired, and, therefore, cannot agree to receive him as a candidate under their care, without some limitation; yet, as some things appear very agreeable in Mr. Addison, they are not without hopes of obtaining such satis- faction, and therefore permit him to preach in our bounds until the next meeting of Presbytery. Application was made from the town of Washington for the stated labors of Mr. Addison until our next meeting, and also for a member to moderate in drawing up a call for him. The Presbytery agree that Mr. Addison's labors be allowed statedly, until our next meeting, to the town of Washington; but as the moderating, in drawing up a call, does not consist with a minute of the Synod on this subject, we cannot at present make the appoint- ment."
At the next meeting of the Presbytery, at Rehoboth, on April 18, 1786, the following entry was made in its records:
"Upon a new application of the town of Washington, the Presbytery agree that Mr. Addison continue to preach until the meeting of Synod."1
1 It was at this same meeting that Colonel Henry Taylor, ante, p. 35, who on April 13, 1784, had brought up an appeal from the judgment of the session of the Chartiers congregation, "with respect to his having and
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HON. ALEXANDER ADDISON.
For the records of the Presbytery of Redstone, from which the foregoing extracts are made, see Smith's Old Redstone, 339, 340, 341.
Discouraged, perhaps, by the strictness of the orthodoxy of Old Redstone Presbytery, Mr. Addison turned his attention to the law, and, registering with Mr. David Redick, he was admitted to the bar of Washington County in March, 1787. It has been said that he settled at Pittsburg, but advertise- ments and correspondence in the Western Telegraphe, in the winter of 1795-96, show that he then resided in Washington. He doubtless resided in Washington much earlier, perhaps from the time he reached Western Pennsylvania; for, on November 18, 1790, he received title to lot No. 14 in the addi- tional town, being the lot on the northwest corner of Main Street and Hazel Alley, where the new station of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad now stands, with an out-lot of 73 acres, made up of what is now a part of the Trinity Hall grounds and a part of the land of the estate of James W. Kuntz, deceased, opposite thereto, the parcel acquired by Judge Addison being at the foot of the ascent of the present highway to the Washington Cemetery.
As shown by his charges to grand juries, contained in the latter part of his volume entitled " Addison's Reports," pub- lished in the year 1800, he stood out bravely on the side of law and order during the troublous times of and succeeding the Whiskey Insurrection. In that controversy bitter partisan animosities were aroused, and at a later date his political opponents caused him to be impeached before the Senate of Pennsylvania, upon charges based upon a trivial matter relat- ing to the conduct of the trial of a civil cause before a jury ; and the sentence of the Senate removing him from his office as president judge and disqualifying him forever to hold and
encouraging a promiscuous dance at his house," was admonished, and it was ordered " that this judgment be read before the congregation of Char- tiers. To this judgment Mr. Taylor submitted, and was admonished accordingly."
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exercise that office in any court of law within the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, was passed on January 27, 1803. A full report of this impeachment trial was published in 1803; and for an admirable sketch of what was known at the time thereof of Judge Addison's history, and a full discussion of his impeachment, see the address of ex-Chief Justice Daniel Agnew, published in the Centennial Celebration of Washing- ton County in 1881, p. 49. He did not long survive the shameful injustice of his trial before the Senate, dying at Pittsburg, where he then resided, on November 24, 1807.1
His will, dated October 18, 1807, a model in its concise- ness, was as follows:
" I, Alexander Addison, of Pittsburg, do hereby make my last will and testament.
" All my estate, real and personal, I hereby give and devise (after payment of my debts) to my wife Jean, her heirs and assigns forever, and I make her my executrix.
"In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and seal, this eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seven.
" ALEXANDER ADDISON (Seal) ." " Witness, "JAMES Ross."
This will, upon the oath of Hon. James Ross and that of James Brice, of Washington, was duly admitted to probate in the office of the register of wills for Allegheny County, and letters testamentary granted to the executrix, on November 26, 1807, the will being recorded in Will Book No. 3, p. 517.
An inventory of the estate was filed by " Mrs. Jean Addi- son, Ex'x," on December 23, 1807. All the personal estate of the judge, including cash, bank stock, household goods, law library and historical and literary works, all itemized, was appraised by John Wilkins, Jr., and John Woods, of the "Borough of Pittsburg," and aggregated $5,333.37. No account in full settlement of the estate seems to have ever been filed.
1 See "Judge-Breaking in Pennsylvania," 3 McMasters' History of the People of the United States, 154.
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HON. ALEXANDER ADDISON.
The remains of Judge Addison were interred in the churchyard of the First Presbyterian Church, on Wood Street, near Sixth Avenue, Pittsburg, and on the tombstone which marked his grave was placed the following inscription, pre- pared by Hon. James Ross:
"In memory of Alexander Addison, who died on the 24th day of November, 1807. In this great and good man, promi- nent powers of mind were happily united with the most pre- cious attainments of science; an accomplished classic scholar, profoundly skilled in jurisprudence, combining purity of taste with the cogency of reason. His talents as an author, an advo- cate, and a judge were universally admired and revered. In the latter character, which he sustained for twelve years, he was a luminous expositor of the law, prompt, correct, impar- tial, and decisive; in dispatch of business never surpassed, and from his judgments there never was an appeal. These splendid ornaments of the mind were accompanied by a heart without disguise, constant and ardent in its friendships, and generous to the full measure of its means. Beneficent and charitable to the unfortunates, ever ready without reward to defend the oppressed, a tender husband and an affectionate father, he left a widow and eight children to mourn over his premature grave."
Beside the Judge's remains were placed those of his wife, Jean, when she died on February 13, 1820, and of their daugh- ter, Mrs. Mary Fitzhugh, who died on April 16, 1822. On October 24, 1901, after almost a century had passed, these three graves were opened, the writer being present, and all that was left of their sacred contents was removed to the Allegheny Cemetery.
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