The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 11

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co.
Number of Pages: 1102

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

future the members of our profession will not lie idly by, as the world glides on upon the current or progress, but, as they have always done in the past, will labor both by precept and example to improve the con- dition of themselves and of mankind.

It may be well here to mention briefly some lawyers all of them Congressmen, who, though well known in their profession, gained their reputation more by their part in political life, than by their devotion to the bar.

Albert G. Green was the son of a Reading merchant, graduated from Yale when twenty-one, and read law with Judge Gor- don. For some years he was associated with John S. Richards, and being a born stu- dent he went into every case with a care and minuteness, certain sooner or later to result in sucecss. He was absolutely untiring in his preparation and his opponent could gen- erally depend upon no, case escaping his ex- haustive scrutiny. It might here be well to mention one of the best known civil cases ever tried in Berks county, that of Sitler v. Gehr (105 Pa. 577). The case began by an ejectment suit for some land in Maxatawny township, and when the defendants found that that their own title was worthless they astonished the plaintiffs by producing an old lady named Hannah Nieely, ninety-two years of age, who was clearly the next of kin to the last owner, and whose heirs then ob- tained possession of the premises. The origi- nal owner of the premises was one Baltzer Gehr, and shortly after the verdict in the first ejectment suit the counsel for the de- feated plaintiff read an account in the news- papers of some patriarch in Crawford county, named Baltzer Gehr, who celebrated his hundredth birthday. Four or five gen- erations of Gelirs assembled, the day was spent in speeches, banquets, and jollification, and accounts of the proceedings were pub- lished all over the country. Struck by the similarity of name the attorneys investi-

gated the antecedents of this new Baltzer Gehr, and discovered facts sufficient to jus- tify them in instituting ejeetment against the Nieely claimants, so lately successful. A. G. Green represented the latter and dis- played his usual diligenec and research in the preparation and trial of the case. Old records were hunted up, old tombstones de- eiphered, old family traditions examined, and the whole history of the Gehrs-a nu- inerous and ancient race-was explored from beginning to end. It is but fair to say that the plaintiff's attorneys exhibited equal zeal and industry, and one of them, Isaae Hiester, then a young lawyer, helped to make his name at the bar by his conduet of the case. After covering a period of about six years from the time of its original ineep- tion, during which the eentenarian and many other of the aged contestants departed this life for a less litigious sphere, the Su- preme Court finally decided the ease in favor of the plaintiff on some very nice points (of novel impression in Pennsylvania), upon questions of pedigree and hearsay, whiel were thereby established as the law of the state. In his argument before the Supreme Court Isaae Hiester remarked that he had entered into the case when a young man with little to do and plenty of time to in- vestigate, and Judge Paxon, leaning from the bench, said: "This is the most interest- ing ease I have ever decided." It appeared in the newspapers shortly afterwards that he had just handed down his ten thousandth opinion ! Albert G. Green, after fifty-one years at the Berks eounty bar, died on May 21, 1902, at Reading, aged seventy-four years.

J. Glancy Jones was born in Caemawon township, of Welsh ancestry; he was edu- cated at Kenyon college, Ohio, and ordained to the ministry of the Episeopalian church. He preferred law, however, and, after prac- ticing for some time in Easton, was ad- mitted to the Berks county bar in 1845. He

A. G. GREEN

BERKS COUNTY

was appointed district attorney of the eounty, was tendered the judgeship of the Chester and Delaware distriet, and was afterwards chairman of the Demoeratie state committee. He was elected to Congress in 1850, and again in 1854 and 1856, during his last term being chairman of the committee of ways and means. He was a zealous ad- herent of President Buchanan, was offered the mission to Berlin, and, after being de- feated in the congressional campaign of 1858 by nineteen votes, aceepted the appointment of minister to Austria, where he remained with his family for about three years. On returning to Reading, he with- drew from active participation in polities, though still frequently ealled upon for ad- vice in the counsels of his party. He prae- ticed law for some ten years, until ill health compelled his retirement from all active em- ployment. He died in 1878.

Henry A. Muhlenberg, 2nd, was a member of one of the most distinguished families in the early history of Pennsylvania, his father, Henry A. Muhlenberg 1st, being eongress- man, minister to Austria, and nominee for governor, his grandfather on his mother's side being Governor Hiester, and others of his family having played a most eonspieu- ous part in the Revolutionary war. He was educated at Dickinson eollege, studied law with J. Pringle Jones, and went into a law partnership with William M. Hiester. From his earliest years he displayed deeided po- litieal ability, helped to eonduet his father's gubernatorial eampaign, and was elected to the State Senate in 1849, where he soon made his mark, and was the Demoeratie eandidate for speaker. He aided greatly in obtaining a eharter for the Philadelphia & Reading railroad, though opposing any di- rcet legislative aid to this and similar pri- vate enterprises. He was a strong adherent of a protective tariff, and opponent of slav- ery, and a loyal friend of the Union. On these issues he was nominated for Congress

by aeelamation in 1852 and took his seat there the following year as its youngest member, being barely thirty years of age. After having attended a few meetings of Congress he was strieken with typhoid fever, which shortly proved fatal. For so young a man his career was peeuliarly brilliant, and had he lived he would undoubtedly have written his name deep upon the annals of his state and country.

Hiester Clymer was also a member of a distinguished family, one of his aneestry being a signer of the Deelaration of Inde- pendenee. He was born in 1827, edueated at Prineeton, and praetieed law both in Reading and Pottsville. IIe was always ac- tive in polities, was a delegate to the Demo- cratie national conventions of 1860 and 1868, and served for five years in the State Senate. In 1866 he was nominated for governor on the Demoeratie tieket, but was defeated by General Geary. In 1872 he was elected to Congress and continued there until 1883. He was remarkably courteous and dignified in manner, an eloquent speaker and peeul- iarly effeetive in obtaining what he desired from the committees and eaucuses of the House. He died in 1884.

Daniel Ermentrout, brother of Judge Er- mentrout, a sketeh of whose life has already been given, was edueated at Franklin and Marshall eollege, studied law under Judge Gordon, and with his brother built up a large and paying praetiee. He was elected distriet attorney, eity solicitor, and State Senator, where he served for seven years. He was also a member of the Reading sehool board for a number of years, and a delegate to various Demoeratie conventions, among them the national one of 1880, which nomi- nated Haneock. He served in Congress from 1883 to 1889, and again from 1897 to 1899, in which year he died. While a member of Congress he was influential in the selection of General Peter Muhlenberg as one of the two representative Pennsylvanians whose

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

statues should be placed in the rotunda of the capitol, believing as he did that General Muhlenberg represented the Pennsylvania German clements so strong in this commu- nity. Daniel Ermentrout took an active part in all the deliberations of Congress, and was untiring in his efforts to obtain all the wants of his constituents-efforts which were gen- crally successful, and which were thor- oughly appreciated by those for whom exe- cuted.

Richmond Legh Jones, Esq .- High in re- pute in legal circles and widely known as one of the most public-spirited and philan- thropic citizens of Reading, Richmond L. Jones, the subject of this biography, has fairly won his place among prominent Penn- sylvanians. He was born February 17, 1840, and after a thorough training in the best schools of this country, completed his edu- cation at the university of Heidelberg, Ger- many. Before entering that world-renowned institution, however, he went to South Amer- ica with the United States expedition against Paraguay, visiting the islands of St. Thomas and Barbadoes in the West Indies and the principal cities of the cast coast of South America, and, sailing a thousand miles up the Parana river to Asuncion, was pres- ent at the capitulation of Lopez, which crowned the success of the expedition. After a sojourn of several years in Europe, he re- turned to America and entered the law of- fice of his father as a student, and, having been thoroughly qualified, was admitted to the bar of Berks county, April 14, 1863. Hc was subsequently admitted to the Supreme Court of the commonwealth and to the bar of Philadelphia and other counties of the state.

In his profession he has attained marked distinction, having tried and won many cases involving important principles of law which are now widely quoted as precedents, and having recently been appointed, by the Bar Association of Pennsylvania, chairman

of a committee to revise the corporation laws of the state. The Reading street rail- way system, with its suburban adjuncts, and the electric light and gas systems, owe their marked success largely to the genius and ability displayed by Mr. Jones in their or- ganization and development. He is general counsel also for the United Power and Transportation company and the Interstate Railway company, corporations controlling over five hundred miles of street railways in Pennsylvania and the adjoining states. His services to the public, aside from business, have been equally notable, and the prosper- ous community in which he lives cheerfully acknowledges many substantial benefits largely due to his well-directed energy and the wisdom of his counsel. It was mainly through his efforts that the city of Reading recovered title to the tract of land, lost for nearly a hundred years, at the foot of Penn's Mount, now beautifully improved as the city park, and known as Penn Common; and that the free public library of the city, of which he is president, was rescued from ob- scurity and sacrifice, placed upon an endur- ing foundation by liberal private contribu- tions headed with his name, and then adopted by the public as worthy of mainte- nance out of the common purse.

In 1862, on the invasion of Maryland by the Confederate army, Mr. Jones enlisted as a private soldier, and was present at the bat- tle of Antietam, and, in 1863, he was made captain of a company of Pennsylvania vol- unteers. In 1866 he was elected a member of the Legislature from the county of Berks, and was twice re-elected, and in 1868, his second term, he received his party's, nomi- nation for the speakership. His speeches on the amendments to the constitution of the United States, then being considered, were widely read and ranked with the best argu- ments upon that subject. He had little taste for politics, however, and a preference for the work of his profession induced him to

William Chrourke

BERKS COUNTY

retire from public life, and he has since held no public office.

Mr. Jones is a vestryman of Christ (Epis- copal) church, Reading, and a director in many local organizations. He is also a mem- ber of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, Society of Colonial Wars, Sons of the Revo- lution, Society of the War of 1812, and Grand Army of the Republic. On Novem- ber 26, 1870, he married Margaret Ellen Me- Carty, daughter of James McCarty, a promi- nent ironmaster of Reading, and Rebecca Mac Veagh, his wife. He has one daughter, who is the wife of Nathaniel Ferguson, of Reading.

Mr. Jones is descended from a long line of distinguished colonial and Revolutionary an- cestors on both sides of his house. His father, J. Glancy Jones, was an able lawyer and distinguished member of Congress from Berks county from 1850 to 1859, during his last term having been chairman of the com- mittee on ways and means. He resigned his scat in Congress to accept the appointment of envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- potentiary to Austria, which office he held during the trying times of the commence- ment of the Civil war, when our relations with foreign countries were extremely deli- cate. Mr. Jones' great-grandfather, Col. Jonathan Jones, was senior captain of the first regiment raised in Pennsylvania for the continental army, October, 1775. He partici- pated in the winter campaign for the relief of the army at Quebec, after the death of Montgomery, and also in many important engagements. For distinguished services he was promoted to the rank of major, and later to that of lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania line.

Mr. Jones' great-great-grandfather, David .Jones, came from Merioneth, Wales, to Penn- sylvania in 1721 and bought a large traet of land in Caernarvon township, where he opened and developed iron ore mines, which still bear his name.

Mr. Jones' mother was the daughter of William Rodman, of Bucks county, who was a brigade quartermaster in the army of the Revolution, and afterwards a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania, and of the twelfth Congress of the United States. The Rod- man family is one of the oldest in the New World, having settled in America in the early part of the seventeenth century, and contributed to the colonies many of their most distinguished citizens.

William J. Rourke, Esq., prominent among the leading attorneys of the city of Read- ing, has for many years served efficiently in the capacity of city solicitor. He comes from a family of Irish descent, and was born to Jolin and Grace (McAnulty) Rourke, Sep- tember 11, 1859. John Rourke, father of our subject, was born in Ireland, and came to the United States in 1851 to seek a home and fortune in a new country. He at once lo- cated in Reading, where he was afterwards married and always resided, and has ever since followed the trade of a mill worker. As a result of his union with Grace Mc- Anulty, a family of children was born, of whom William J. is the only one now living.

William J. Rourke was intellectually equipped for the battles of life in the pub- lic schools of Reading, graduating from the high school department June 24, 1876, after which he was employed in a drug store for a short time. On May 8, 1877, he began to study his chosen profession, that of the law, under the preceptorship of Peter D. Wan- ner, a well-known lawyer of Reading, and was admitted to the Berks county bar No- vember 22, 1880. His successful career began in that city immediately after, and he has remained there since. He has made a specialty of municipal practice for the past seventeen years, and his success has been greater than his fondest expectations. In his political affiliations he is a firm supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and on February 23, 1885, lie was elected

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

city solicitor and his great popularity and ability to perform the duties of that office are demonstrated by the fact that he held it continuously until June 4, 1895. At that time the city councils became Republican and remained such until May 3, 1897, when the Democrats again came into power, and our subject was called back to his former position, which he has since faithfully held. He has frequently served as a delegate to city, county and state conventions, always creditably and in a manner satisfactory to his constituents. From 1890 to 1893 he was assistant to W. Oscar Miller, who was at that time district attorney. In shrewdness and general business ability he has few superiors in this county, and his honesty and frank- ness have made him a favorite with his fel- low-citizens and fellow-members of the bar.

On October 25, 1884, Mr. Rourke was mar- ried to Miss Lizzi .: Yocom, daughter of N. S. Yocom, of Reading, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Rourke have a family of three children, viz. : Grace, William and Helen.

Jeremiah K. Grant .- No history of the bench and bar of Pennsylvania would be com- plete without mention of Jeremiah K. Grant's connection with the legal fraternity. Mr. Grant is a native of Pike township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, born October 24, 1847, his parents being Charles and Catherine Grant. His education was ac- quired at the Keystone State normal school, Kutztown, Berks county, and he then took a course at the Eastman National Busi- ness college, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., supple- menting these courses with private tuition under Isaac B. Hankey, Ph. D., and Prof. Ehner Roan Coates, at Boyerstown, Pa. Having decided upon the law as his profes- sion and life work, he was registered at Philadelphia, Pa., and associated as a law student under William H. Livingood, Esq., and attended the lectures of the law depart- ment of the university of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia

June 7, 1877; at Reading, Berks county, November 11, 1878, and subsequently to the Supreme, Superior and United States Courts of Pennsylvania. Since his admission he has been in active practice in the civil, criminal and equity courts, and his success in a large number of important cases has enabled him to build up an enviable clientage, for he has, since his admission to the bar, worked along entirely independent lines, and has never been associated in any partnership. Mr. Grant is a director of the Berks County Trust company, of Reading, Pa., which in- stitution is well and favorably known on ac- count of its sound, conservative business transactions and the well-known integrity of its officials. Politically, Mr. Grant gives his allegiance and support to the Democratic party, and has been honored by represent- ing his party as district attorney for three years, and is at present the county solicitor of Berks county.

Henry C. G. Reber, deceased, was born in Penn township, Berks county, Pa., December 18, 1846. He was the son of the late John B. Reber, who was an extensive coal opera- tor in his time, and Maria Gernant Reber, both being of German origin. The Berks county bar includes many attorneys of prom- inence, whose abilities place them in the front ranks of the profession, but there are few whose attainments in the knowledge of the law and in successful practice can vie with those of the subject of this biograph- ical notice. In the preparation of cases that had come to him, he was ever diligent and thorough, with a remarkable singleness of mind in regard to his clients' interests; this thoroughness and fidelity early in his pro- fessional career attracted to him favorable notice, and contributed largely to the suc- cess that attended his efforts in building up a practice that in size and importance was second to none in the county. For many years Mr. Reber was prominently identified with the most weighty litigation that had

H. C. G. REBER.

BERKS COUNTY

arisen in the courts of the county, and well did he sustain his reputation as a gentle- man of strong intellect and clear judgment, whose legal learning was at once accurate and profound. His extended practice in all the courts gave him an intimate acquaint- ance with the working details of his profes- sion and made him an antagonist to be feared. His youth was spent in his native township attending the common schools and laying the foundation for what proved a very successful career. At the age of twenty years he graduated from Franklin and Mar- shall college at Lancaster, Pa .; subsequently he received the advanced degree of master of arts from his Alma Mater. His literary tastes and inclinations early directed his thoughts toward a legal career, and with this purpose in view, after leaving college halls, he became a student in the office of Jeremiah Hagenman, a prominent lawyer of Reading in that day and afterwards presi- dent judge of Berks County Court. Under the tutelage of his excellent instructor, Mr. Reber rapidly progressed in his studies and became a member at the bar, entitled to practice, on April 12, 1869. After a number of years of active work in the Berks county courts, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and to the United States District Court. He rose rapidly in the profession and within a few years after his admission to the bar had built up a large practice, quite general in its character. In 1878, when a warrant in bankruptcy pro- cecdings was issued against the Reading Savings bank, which had suspended in No- vember, 1877, he became counsel for Wil- liam A. Arnold, the assignee of the institu- tion, and assisted in winding up the bank's affairs, the amounts involved amounting in the aggregate to over a million dollars. The legal business of the bankrupt estate, which was conducted in the District Court in Phil- adelphia, required years of work before the affairs could be settled; it finally resulted

in the payment of 523/4 cents on the dollar, an arrangement that proved very satisfac- tory to the creditors, who hardly expected to be paid so large a percentage of their claims. Mr. Reber's practice in the Or- phans' Court brought him in a large amount of lucrative business in the settlement of numerous estates. He was most faithful in attending to his legal practice and merited well the great confidence reposed in him by clients and fellow practitioners. He was fre- quently appointed master in equity by agreement of counsel in important cases in- volving difficult and intricate questions of law, and as such conducted himself with fidelity and ability. Mr. Reber was ever prominent in local Democratic councils and worked earnestly and zealously for party success. In 1874 he was elected district attorney by an exceptionally large ma- jority and served in that office from 1875 to 1877. He exhibited great force of charac- ter and it is the well-grounded opinion of those who best knew him that he was the strongest district attorney Berks county ever had. It was in 1877, during his term of office, in the month of July, that the great riot prevailed in Reading, arising out of the strike of the railroad employes, the strike being general throughout many of the North- ern states. This riot resulted in the death of a number of persons who were shot by mili- tia brought to the city to suppress the riot and the wounding of a great many others, and in great depredations on property, among which the most notable deed was the burning of the Lebanon Valley railroad bridge. The riot was finally suppressed by the militia, aided by a detachment of United States regular soldiers, and many men were indicted by the district attorney, Mr. Reber, for alleged implication in the riot, of whom several were sentenced to five years' impris- onment.

As district attorney Mr. Reber was ex officio a member of the board of license com-

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

missioners by virtue of an act of assembly. When he retired from the district attorney- ship he left behind him a record of having filled the functions and duties of the office with ability, honesty and integrity, his rec- ord being a credit both to himself and to the party which placed him in office.

Upon the creation of the Orphans' Court in 1883, Mr. Reber's name was prominently mentioned as a very suitable candidate for the judgeship thereof. The appointment by the governor of Hiram H. Schwartz as judge, in June, 1883, to serve until January, 1884, when a regularly elected judge should as- sume the duties of the position, was unpop- ular, and aroused considerable opposition. In the Democratic convention of 1883, which met to nominate a candidate for the full ten years' term, Mr. Reber would have met with suecess had not his opponents resorted to triekery, and would have been triumphantly eleeted at the polls. for his popularity in gen- eral extended to all classes. His opponents even admitted his superior qualification for the office while they were resorting to every political expedient to defeat him. Mr. Reber possessed a number of important interests outside of what related directly to his legal practice. He was a member of the board of directors of the Farmer's National bank of Reading, and solicitor for that most solid financial institution. He was the owner of considerable property and was largely inter- ested in real estate and coal operations at Shenandoah. As a public-spirited citizen, he nobly acquitted himself of every duty that devolved upon him from time to time and from every consideration was entitled to rank with the most representative men of Berks county.

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The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 11

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co. Number of Pages: 1102

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co.
Number of Pages: 1102