USA > Pennsylvania > The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I > Part 68
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA
ler county some two or three years after his admission; T. E. J. (Edwin) Lyon, born in Middlesex township, Butler county, was first a member of the Thirteenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and then captain of the One Hun- dred and Thirty-fourth Pennsylvania Regi- ment, seriously wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, but, re- eovering after a long illness, he became the partner of his preceptor, John M. Thomp- son, then retiring from the profession to the more congenial business of banking, beeom- ing the cashier of the Butler savings bank. Owing to failing health, he resigned his posi- tion as eashier and went as eonsul to El Paso, Mex., and from there he returned to Butler and died; L. G. Linn, a graduate of Jefferson college, read law with Charles Mc- Candless, and, after practicing for a time with H. H. Goucher, went into the gold mining business, in which he is at present engaged in Colorado; John M. Miller eame to Butler from Franklin and remained until 1879, and then removing west, now of Los Angeles, Cal .; R. L. Maxwell, born in But- ler township, Butler county, who, after his admission, gave evidence of the making of a lawyer of unusual ability, but who died young : Eugene G. Miller, brother of John M., who removed to Spokane, Wash .. and be- came a poliee magistrate, where he still lives.
There are others in the list who, from their long serviee and prominent position at the bar, their prominenee in state or national affairs, or their influence at the bar. require more than passing notiee.
James Bredin is a son of Judge John Bredin, and was born in Butler on May 9, 1831. In July, 1846, having been appointed midshipman in the navy, he attended the Naval academy at Annapolis. He after- wards served in the United States ship of the line Ohio and sloop-of-war Warren dur- ing the Mexican war, on the Mexican coast, east and west, and was present at the taking of Luspan, and at the bombardment of Vera
Cruz. He resigned in 1850. He began the study of the law with his father, but fin- ished his legal studies with E. Me.Junkin. He was admitted to the bar JJune 14, 1853. but until 1855 he was engaged in the bank- ing business at Newcastle and Butler. In 1855 he began the practice of the law. In 1871 he removed to Allegheny county and opened an office in Pittsburgh. While l'e- siding there in 1874, he was nominated for judge on the Democratie tieket in the Seven- teenthi distriet and was elected. In 1884 lie was again a candidate for the same position, but was defeated. He made a contest for the office before the courts, but the decision was adverse. He then returned to Alle- gheny county, engaging there in the prac- tice of his profession. Judge Bredin is a man of great integrity and ability, and filled the office of judge with honor to himself and to the satisfaction of the people.
In 1884 Aaron L. Hazen and John Me- Michael, both of the Lawrenee county bar, were electe i judges of the Seventeenth dis- triet, to succeed MeJunkin and Bredin. Upon their election, they cast lots for the president judgeship, the honor falling to Judge Hazen. His history as well as that of Judge MeMichael belongs peculiarly to the Lawrenee county bar.
The election of Judges Hazen and MI -- Michael gave rise to a memorable trial in the Butler eourts. The election was con- tested by the chosen candidates, James Bre- din and John M. Greer. In the apportion- ment act of 1883, Butler county, having more than forty thousand population, was . made the Seventeenth District under the provision of the constitution that any county having more than that population should be a separate distriet. and Lawrence county, having less than forty thousand, was attached to Butler for judicial purposes. Bredin and Greer received more votes for the office in Butler county than Hazen and MeMichael, though less in the two counties.
James Bredin
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and it was claimed for them that Butler county, being a district, should clect. The contest was heard before the court convened at Butler, December 22, 1884, which was composed of three nearest judges, Hon. Henry Hice of Beaver, Hon. James B. Neale of Kittanning, and Hon. Samuel S. Mehard of Mercer. The decision of the court was adverse to the contestants, Judge Mehard delivering the opinion in which Judge Hice concurred; Judge Ncale dissented; no ap- peal from the decision was taken.
During his term of offiec Judge Mc- Michacl, deeply lamented, died. Governor Pattison appointed as his successor J. Nor- man Martin, of the Newcastle bar, who held the office until January 1, 1893. In 1892 John M. Greer was elected to sueceed Judge McMichael, and in 1893 Lawrence county was separated from Butler for judicial pur- poses, and Judge Hazen was transferred to Lawrence county, to which eounty he at onee removed, leaving Judge Greer residing as the president judge in Butler county. His commission expired January 1, 1903.
John Gilmore was the pioneer lawyer of the Butler bar. Of Seotch-Irish deseent, he was born in Bedford, (now Somerset) county, in Mareh, 1780. He afterward lived at Washington, Pa., read law there in the office of Col. David Bradford, and was there admitted to the bar in 1801, but soon re- moved to Pittsburgh and began the practiee of the law there. In 1803 he was appointed deputy attorney general (now the office of distriet attorney) for, and removed to, But- ler eounty. About the year 1816 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, was re-elected several sueees- sive years, and was speaker of the House in 1821. He was elected to Congress in 1828 and 1830. In 1841 he was elected state treasurer by the Legislature. He died May 11, 1845. John Gilmore dealt largely in real estate. He was a liberal eitzen and was held in high esteem. Personally, he was a fine specimen
of physical manhood. Until about 1830 he had a large practiec, eontesting for the lead- ership of the bar in volume of business and in trials at the bar with John Purviance, William Ayres and John Bredin.
John B. Gibson, afterwards the great chief justice, was, at the August term, 1804, ad- mitted to the bar upon motion of William Wilkins. At the August term, 1805, he re- turned and with Baldwin for defendant. John Gilmore being for the plaintiff, tried an action of eovenant. He again returned to the September term, 1806, and, for the defendant, tried an action of cjeetment be- fore the Circuit Court, Judge Ycates pre- siding, Collins and Armstrong being for the plaintiff.
John Purviance was the first student ex- amined for admission to the bar, his commit- tee, appointed upon motion of John Gilmore, being Steel Semple, Alexander Foster and Henry Baldwin. He was born in Washing- ton, Pa., December 28, 1781. He studied for the profession in Washington under Parker Campbell, probably finishing in Butler county under John Gilmore, whose brother- in-law he was. Until 1813 he did a large business, seldom appearing after that, and retiring altogether from the bar of Butler county in 1816. Shortly after the war of 1812 and '15 was deelared, Colonel Purvi- anee raised a regiment for serviee, known as the Second Regiment of Infantry, four eom- panies of which were reeruited in Butler eounty, and saw service at Erie and other parts in northern Pennsylvania. After the war he returned to Washington, where he resumed the praetiee and continued it until his death, December 28, 1820.
William Ayres .- On June 5, 1809, his sue- cessor in the office of prothonotary having been inducted into offiee, Mr. Ayres was ad- mitted to the bar. He may be called the father of the bar, almost all the members of the bar for the next thirty years having passed to it through his office. Taking into
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consideration the period he was at the bar, his prominence and his personal character- isties, his is the most interesting figure at the bar of the county. Born in York eonnty on July 19, 1771, he came to western Pennsyl- vania in 1794, with the army of Washington during the troubles known as the "Whisky Insurrection," in the eapaeity of an army tailor. He remained at Pittsburgh, and en- tered the office of Ilon. Il. H. Brackenridge, afterwards of the Supreme Court, as a law student. He was admitted to the Allegheny county bar, probably as early as 1796, and remained there until 1803. In August, 1803, he was at Butler and became a purchaser of some lots in the new town. After the expi- ration of his term of office as prothonotary in 1809, he never held office until, towards the close of his life, in 1837-38, he was a member of the constitutional eonvention of Pennsylvania, and was one of the minority of that body who voted against the word "while" being placed in the Constitution then framed, as a qualification for suffrage. Upon his admission he at once became a leader of the bar, and was actively engaged in his office, and as a trial lawyer at the bar, until about the year 1837, but from the time he entered the constitutional convention he practiced but little. From 1808 to 1837 he appeared in almost every ease removed to the Supreme Court, appearing in twenty- two cases. During the same time he was a circuit rider, practieing in Venango, Mercer. Armstrong, Westmoreland, Warren and Bea- ver counties, and appearing in the Supreme Court in numerous cases removed from those eonnties. He died April 4. 1843. General Ayres was diligent in his business. He is said to have been serpulous in the dis- charge of every trust committed to him, and enjoyed the confidence of the people in the highest degree. In addition to holding what must have been then a lucrative offiee for six years, he had afterwards, for those days, a large practice for almost thirty
years. He also dealt extensively in real es- tate. After his death, his estate was ap- praised at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a very large estate for those days. He lived what was then considered a luxu- rious life. He was a lover of good literature. and had a large private library. He is de- seribed in 1818 as a portly man, tidy in his dress, refined looking. had hair beautifully silvered, and well and scrupnlously kept in order, living in a handsome dwelling like a prince, aiming to be a gentleman of the old school, keeping within the severe propri- eties of life. and never indulging in dissi- pation.
James McGafferty Galbreath was born in Winfield township, Butler county, on Sep- tember 27, 1852. He is the son of Robert Galbreath, deceased, and of Isabella (McCaf- ferty) Galbreath. His ancestry upon his father's side was Scotch; the family settling in the Cumberland valley, Pa., before the Revolutionary war. IFis great-grandfather, Robert Galbreath, came to Winfield (form- erly Buffalo) township, Butler connty, about the beginning of the last century, from the Cumberland valley in the eastern part of the state, and settled on the farm, which has been ever since and is yet the old homestead and in possession of the family. On his mother's side his ancestry was Irish, his grandfather and grandmother coming from Ireland about eighty-five years ago.
Judge . Galbreath attended the country schools in Winfield township until seventeen years of age. He afterwards attended Slate Lick academy at Slate Lick. Armstrong county, Pa., and then the Witherspoon In- stitute at Butler, Pa. He then entered Prince- ton college, which he attended the full course of four years, graduating therefrom in 1880. After his graduation he read law in the of- fice of W. D. Brandon, and was admitted to the bar of Butler eonnty on March 6, 1882. He then engaged in the practice of the law in Butler, and practiced continually with
IM Yallmarle.
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great success until he was elected judge of the county, on November 4, 1902, part of that time being a partner of James B. Me- Junkiu. His commission as judge began on January 5, 1903. He has never held any other office except that of school director of Butler borough, which office he held for six years. He has always been a devoted friend of the public school system. He is a member of the "Princeton Club" of western Pennsylvania, and when in college was a member of the "American Whig Society." In politics he has always been a Republican. He was married May 18, 1882, to Sarah E. Mitchel. They have three children, Edith, Irene and John.
During Judge Galbreath's professional life he has been a foremost citizen in church and state in his native county. He has been a consistent member of the United Presbyte- rian church and is high in the local councils of his church. As a citizen, his good offices have always been freely tendered to his fel- lows. The cause of public. education par- ticularly has had in hint a steadfast friend. In polities he has been a devoted adherent of his party principles and has been clean in his practices. He is a forcible speaker of plain language, and has always been in de- mand as such upou publie oeeasions. He is equally at home on publie questions whether the matter involved be moral, edu- cational or politieal. As a lawyer he has been able, studious and conseientious. By his high character in the profession he has commanded the respect of the beneh, the es- teem of the bar and the confidence of the people. Having these high qualities, his friends confidently prediet for him a useful, highly ereditable and honorable career upon the bench.
John Morgan Greer was born in Jefferson township. Butler county, August 3, 1844, the son of Thomas and Margaret Jane (Morgan) Greer. He obtained a common school edu- cation and subsequently attended Conno-
quenessing academy at Zelenople. He then taught school until 1862, entered the army, enlisting in the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Pennsylvania Volun- teers, and served in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. After the expiration of his term of service he re-enlisted in the Provi- sional Second Artillery, in which he served as sergeant of Battery B, in Ledlie's Division, Ninth Army Corps, until the elose of the war, participating in the Battles of the Wilder- ness, Spottsylvania, North Anna River, Coal Harbor. Petersburg and Mine Explosion. where he was shot through the left thigh by a minie ball while in command of his com- pany. He remained in the hospital until March, 1865, but was present at Lee's sur- render and he was mustered out of the ser- vice in February, 1866. After the war he taught school for a short time and became a law student in the office of Charles MeCand- less. He was admitted to the bar September 23, 1867. In 1868 he was elected district attorney, holding the position for three years. In 1873 he became the law partner of Charles MeCandless, the relation continuing for five years. In 1876 he was elected and in 1880 he was re-elected state senator. holding the office for eight years, being a member of the judiciary committee, and serving in that body with distinetion. In 1882. while a member of the senate he was nominated upon the Republican ticket as state seeretary of internal affairs. The whole tieket was de- feated, but Judge Greer led his party when the vote was counted. In 1884 he was one of the two judicial candidates nominated by the Republican party in the Seventeenth distriet. but was defeated, the two candidates from Lawrence county being elected by a small majority. On the death of Judge McMichael in 1892 he was elected judge, his term ex- piring January 1. 1903, when he was suc- ceeded by Judge Galbreath. Since then he has resumed the practice of law in Butler.
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Judge Greer upon the bench was patient, laborious and most affable. His great kind- ness made it a pleasure to do business before him. While there was a large amount of business to be done, he never allowed arrears to accumulate. His record upon the bench was most creditable.
He was married March 24, 1864, to Julia S. Butler, a daughter of John B. and Harriet N. Butler. They have had four children : Hattie, who died in 1876, aged nine years; Thomas H., and John B., both attorneys at the Butler bar, and Robert B., a Butler phy- sician.
Samuel A. Purviance was destined to fill a large part in the history of the bar of But- ler county for more than thirty years after his admission to the bar. Ile became, after the elevation of Judge Bredin to the bench in 1831, its acknowledged leader, not so much, it has been said of him, because he was a fluent speaker, for in that respect he was excelled by others, or because he was deeply learned in the profession, for in that respect he was excelled by others again, but because his was the good fortune to deeply impress the community with a sense of his high character. That character was appar- ently without a flaw, and the people of his county loved and trusted him implicitly. Mr. Purviance was born in Butler on Jan- uary 10, 1809, son of John Purviance, al- ready mentioned. He was but cleven years of age when his father died, and upon him and his elder brother the responsibility was thrown of supporting his father's large fam- ily-a widow and seven children-who had been left wholly unprovided for upon Colo- nel Purviance's death. From that time until his death, he had a tender care for his father's family. Besides educating himself, he carried a surveyor's chain and clerked in the offices of the court house at Butler. He read law in the office of General Ayres, and was admitted to the bar before he attained his legal majority. Soon after his admission
he was appointed deputy attorney general for Warren county. He remained at Warren for about two years, when he returned to Butler. He was elected to the constitutional convention of 1837-38, George W. Woodward and Daniel Agnew, afterwards chief justices of the Supreme Court, and himself being the youngest members of the convention, his col- league in Butler county being General Ayres. Mr. Purviance was a member of the Pennsyl- vania House of Representatives, sessions of 1838-39. He was a delegate to the following national conventions: the Whig convention of 1844, which nominated Henry Clay; the first Republican convention of 1856, which nominated John C. Fremont; that of 1860, at Chicago, which nominated, and that of 1864, which renominated Abraham Lincoln; and that of 1868, at Chicago, which nonii- nated U. S. Grant. He was also a member of the national executive committee of the Re- publican party from 1864 to 1868. He was elected to Congress in 1854, and re-elected in 1856, and while there took a prominent part in the Kansas-Nebraska debates, opposing the attempt of the slave power to extend slavery over the western territories. In 1859 he removed to Allegheny county. Jan- uary 16, 1861, he was commissioned as attor- ney general in the cabinet of Governor Cur- tin, but held the position only a few months, when he resigned. He was tendered an im- portant diplomatic appointment by Presi- dent Lincoln, but declined it, not desiring to go abroad. During the administration of Mr. Lincoln, he enjoyed the friendship and confidence of the president and the secre- tary of war, Edwin M. Stanton. In 1872 he was prominently mentioned as a candidate for vice president. He rounded out his pub- lic career as a member from Allegheny county of the constitutional convention of 1873, and was one of the most prominent and influential members of that convention of able and illustrious men. All these public trusts he discharged with fidelity and abil-
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ity. For more than forty years he rendered able, faithful and distinguished public serv- ice to the state, thereby securing for himself the respect and esteem of his constituents in an eminent degree. Upon his removal to Al- legheny county he continued to practice in Pittsburgh until 1876, when he retired. Ile died February 14, 1882.
As a lawyer at the Butler bar, Mr. Purvi- ance was easily its leader. He was con- cerned in almost every case tried. Before a jury he was almost invincible, not by rea- son of his eloquence, but because jurors had great confidence in him. In the Supreme Conrt, from 1834 to 1859, he appeared in about two-thirds of the cases removed from Butler county. During the same time, he rode the circuit, appearing, among others, in the counties of Indiana, Clarion, Armstrong, Venango, Mercer, Jefferson and Beaver, ap- pearing also frequently in the Supreme Court in cases removed from those counties.
Samuel A. Gilmore's career at the bar be- longs to the history of Butler county; upon the bench, to that of Fayette county. He was a son of John Gilmore, the pioneer resi- dent lawyer of Butler, and was born in But- ler on January 21, 1806. He was educated at Washington college, Washington, Pa. He read law in the office of his father, and upon his admission soon acquired a large practice. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1836 and 1837, and he was a seeretary of the constitutional convention in 1838. In 1845 he was appointed president judge of the jn- dicial district composed of Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.
George W. Smith was another leader from 1829 to 1855. He was born in Mercer county in 1806. He came to Butler and was em- ployed in the woolen factory and then read for the law in the office of General Ayres. He was elected to the Legislature, and, in 1848, was a candidate for Congress, being defeated by a few votes in the district by Alfred Gilmore. In 1855 he removed to Kan-
sas and became actively engaged in the struggle in that state between the pro and anti-slavery parties, and was a candidate for governor of the anti-Lecompton division of the Free State men. He was afterwards eleeted to the Legislature of that state and was elected speaker of that body. Ile 'sub- sequently became police judge of the city of Lawrence, which position he held until his death, September 28, 1878.
Charles C. Sullivan was born in Franklin township, Butler county, March 10, 1807. He graduated from Jefferson college, Canons- burg, Pa. He read for the law in the office of General Ayres. He was elected to the State Senate in 1841 and in 1844, serving six years with distinction. He died Febru- ary 27, 1860. He was a man of great force. He built up a large practice and supple- mented his income by dealing in real estate, and left a large cstate when he died. He was tenacious for the rights of the bar against what he deemed encroachments of the bench, his contests with Judge Agnew having become a tradition of the bar. Mr. Sullivan was an ardent lover of his native county, as was Samuel A. Purviance, and' he could not bea" with equanimity any slur cast upon the county, even though done in jest.
John N. Purviance, another son of John Purviance, was born in Butler September 27, 1810, and died in Butler in 1885. He read law in the office of John Bredin. For about five years after his admission he held the office of deputy attorney general of Butler county. In 1845 he was appointed auditor general of the state, holding the office until 1851. In 1861 he reernited a company of three-months men for service in the Civil war. The company was mustered into the service in the Thirteenth Volunteer Regi- ment, and Mr. Purvianee was elected lieu- tenant colonel of the regiment. In 1867 he was appointed a register in bankruptey. In 1872 he was elected to the constitutional con-
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vention of 1873. He followed the profession of the law until his death, except during the times when he was filling some public office. His natural inclination was for affairs of state rather than the practice of the law.
Alfred Gilmore was a son of Jolin Gilmore. He was educated at Washington college, graduating in the class of 1883. He read law for the profession in the office of his brother, Samuel A. Gilmore. He practiced law until 1848, when he was elected to Con- gress, being re-elected in 1850. He then be- came a eitizen of Massachusetts, residing at Lenox, afterwards removing to Seranton, Pa., where he died.
Edward M. Bredin was a nephew of John Bredin, and was born in Carlisle, Pa., on Deeember 9, 1819. He was educated at Diek- inson college and read law in the office of John Bredin. He died in Butler August 9, 1887. He was one of the best of Butler's lawyers. " He was not an orator, his voice was poor, and he rarely addressed the jury, but in all the other branches of the profes- sion he stood deservedly high. His judg- inent was good, his integrity beyond suspi- eion. He had a most remarkable memory. He never eolleeted a library, but he had read carefully all the state reports, and he read the new ones as they were published. Any case he had read, if of any importance, he remembered, and would give the volume and page of many of them. In equity practice he was especially well versed, and, if not en- gaged in an equity ease as counsel, he fre- quently aeted as master with the consent of all parties. He was also well up in seience and literature, had a high sense of humor, and was an entertaining and instruetive con- versationalist.
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