The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 74

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

USA > Pennsylvania > The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I > Part 74

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

512

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

Washington county, Pennsylvania, as orig- inally constituted comprised all of the ter- ritory in the southwestern corner of the state lying west of the Monongahela, and south of the Ohio rivers. The Legislative enactment authorizing the organization of the county bears date Mareh 28, 1781. For many years prior to that time this and other contiguons territory had been the subject of a bitter and trying dispute between the au- thorities of Virginia and Pennsylvania, the former claiming the right to exercise sov- ereign jurisdiction under her original char- ter. After years of bitter contention and many unsuccessful attempts to adjust this difficulty, an amicable agreement was finally reached, commissioners to run the line as agreed upon appointed, and the southern and western boundaries of the state fixed. The boundaries of Washington county have been changed at different times from those originally established. Greene county having been carved from the southern part of her original territory, that part of Beaver coun- ty lying south of the Ohio river and west of the Monongahela, from her northern limits, while from her northeastern territory was taken that part of Allegheny county lying to the southwest of the Monongahela river.

The same act which anthorized the erec- tion of the county provided for the protec- tion of its residents in the enjoyment of all their rights and privileges as citizens of the commonwealth, for the election of repre- sentatives to the general assembly and of loeal officers of the law, brought the judi- cial affairs of the county within the jurisdic- tion of the supreme court justices, arranged for raising the necessary revenne, made pro- vision for the erection of public buildings, appointed temporary officers, and, in short, made wise and ample provision for all the then needs of the newly created municipality. Among the powers thus guaranteed was that of electing two justices of the peace for each township in the county and authoriz-

ing any three of them to hold courts of general quarter sessions of the peace and goal delivery, and county courts, for holding of pleas, etc. The times for holding courts were fixed for the months of January, April, July and October, and the place designated for holding courts was the house of David Hoge, until a courthouse should be built. For this latter purpose, trustees were ap- pointed with authority to purchase a suit- able site for the use of the county, and erect the necessary building. Pursuant to the power thus delegated, the trustees, in the fall of 1781, bought of Mr. Hoge what has since been known as the public square in Washington, and which has been contin- ually used by the county as the site of its court house and jail. There was much dilatoriness in prosecuting the work of pro- viding the first court house, and not until the sumner of 1787 was the crude log struc- ture which was made to serve that purpose, finished. The building was ill suited for the uses for which it was intended, and was a source of almost continnal complaint, and finally, some three or four years later, was destroyed by fire. New buildings, costing originally about $15,000 were soon after- wards begun, and made ready for use in 1794, and continued to be 'occupied, with some improvements and additions, made necessary by the growth of the population, and the increase of business. until 1824, when a new jail, solidly built of limestone. was completed. Between 1835 and 1839 the question of erecting a new court house was strongly agitated and finally determined upon, and in 1842 a new building. taking the place of. the old one, was dedicated to the publie's use. This building, with the sheriff's house, cost originally about $30,000. The buildings thus provided were afterwards changed and enlarged from time to time, as necessity required. and a new jail was built, the whole representing in 1879 an expendi- ture of nearly $60,000, and presenting a

513

WASHINGTON COUNTY

group of publie buildings worthy of the county and the use to which they were dedi- cated.

The present court house was recently fin- ished at an expenditure of a large sum of money, and is one of the most imposing structures for judicial purposes in the state.

Following the election held in pursuance of the provision of the act erecting Wash- ington county, a commission under the hand of Joseph Reed, president of the couneil at Philadelphia, and the seal of the state, dated August 4, 1781, was issued to Henry Taylor. William Seott, John Craig, John White, Daniel Leet, Jolın Marshal, John Douglas. Benjamin Parkinson, John Reed, Abner Howell, Matthew MeConnell, Samuel John- ston and Samuel Mason, appointing them justiees of the peace of Washington county, and assigning to them or any three of them power to serve as justices of assize, of oyer and terminer, of goal delivery, of the court of common pleas and justiees of the or- phans' eourt.

The first court of quarter sessions under this new régime was eonvened in September, 1781. Henry Taylor, the first named in the justiees commission, serving as president. Aside from some routine matters, the busi- ness transacted at this first term of quarter sessions was the admission of several attor- neys, the appointment of a state prosecutor, providing for the laying out of several mueh needed roads, granting permission to open a public house of entertainment. and a few other minor matters.

In the common pleas court many suits were instituted, the majority of them involv- ing disputed questions relating to land titles growing out of the old boundary dispute.

The docket of the orphans' court was soon cleared, the business transacted relating to the interest of several minor children.

At the general election held on October 9, 1781, offieers, comprising representatives in the council and the assembly, sheriff, cor-

oner and commissioners were selected and the county organization beeame an estab- lished faet.

In October, 1783, the supreme executive 'council of the state appointed in place of Henry Taylor as president judge of the then common pleas court. Dorsey Pentecost, who served in that eapaeity till in November, 1786, when the couneil revoked his commis- sion on aeeount of his removal to another state. Two years later, in September, 1798. upon a reorganization of the courts, Henry Taylor was again eommissioned justice and made president of the court of common pleas, of general quarter sessions of the peace, and of goal delivery and of the or- phans' court, and served as such till August, 1791.

Henry Taylor was a man of noble mien, of attractive personality, and commanding in- fluenee, and left upon the early judicial af- fairs of Washington county the impress of a great soul. He died at his home in Wash- ington eounty at the age of sixty-three years. on October 8, 1801.

Prior to the adoption of the new state constitution in 1790, all of the justices ehosen for the several townships in the eoun- ty, were empowered to hold quarter sessions of the court, one for each township being named to serve a term of seven years. In the eourts of common pleas and the orphans' courts, the sitting justiees were required to be specially chosen. Under the new eonsti- tution, the state was divided into five cir- cuits, Washington county, with Westmore- land, Fayette and Allegheny, comprising the Fifth eireuit, and many changes in the or- ganization of the various eourts were made. The supreme court judges, as well as those of common pleas, were chosen to serve dur- ing good behavior, and for the last named court, it became the duty of the governor to appoint for eael eireuit a president judge who, with any two judges, there being three. or four for each county, were authorized to

514

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

hold courts of common pleas, which came to be the leading court. The courts of quarter sessions and the orphans' court under the new régime, were composed of the common pleas judges of each county, and two forming a quorum and having authority to transact business, while the registers' court was made up of the same judges, together with the register of wills of each county. The justices of the peace, whose term of office were during their good behavior, the requi- site number for each county were appointed by the governor, but these did not, as under the old judicial system, form a part of the county court.

Washington county, as already stated, be- came a part of the Fifth judicial district under the constitution of 1790, and under the power conferred by that instrument, the governor appointed Alexander Addison the first president judge of this district. The associate judges who served with him were Henry Taylor, James Edgar, James Allison, Matthew Ritchie, William Hoge and John McDowell, the first four being commissioned in 1791, and the last two in 1798 and 1802 respectively. (Sketch of Judge Addison ap- ' pears in Westmoreland county.)

Following Judge Addison, as presiding judge of the Fifth district, came Samuel Roberts, who was a practicing attorney at the time of his appointment, June 2, 1803. ten years after his admission to the bar of Philadelphia, his native place.

Judge Roberts filled his high office in Washington county faithfully and efficiently till the Fifth district was changed, in 1818, and made to comprise Butler, Beaver and Allegheny counties, where he served in the same capacity until his decease in 1820.

Under the change of districts referred to Washington county, with Fayette, Greene and Somerset, became the Fourteenth dis- trict, and the president judge appointed to succeed Judge Roberts was Thomas H.

Baird, whose commission bore date October 19, 1818.

Hon. Thomas H. Baird was a native of Washington, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and began the practice of law in Washington county in 1808. After his election to the bench in 1818, he continued in that office nineteen years, resigning in 1837 to resume the practice of his profession at Pittsburgh. He was not only a leader in his profession, but also a prominent and active man of af- fairs, and held a high place in the esteem of the entire community .. His death oc- curred in 1866 at Allegheny City. Asso- ciated with Judge Baird during his judicial career in Washington county, were Rev. Boyd Mercer and Messrs. Thomas Mckeever and John Hamilton.

Changes of the state constitution made in 1838 fixed the term of president judge and other judges of the court of record at ten years, and that of associate judges of com- mon pleas at five years, misfeasance in office on the part of any of them being ground for removal, and also providing that the ten years' term should apply to law judges who had not served ten years at the time the constitution was changed. Under this new law, Nathaniel Ewing, who succeeded to the office of president judge on the resignation of Judge Baird, filled the position with dis- tinction, and to the great satisfaction of all parties, till the limit of his term in 1848. his associates being Rev. Boyd Mercer and Messrs. Thomas Mckeever, John Grayson, James Gordon and Samuel Hill.

Under the constitutional amendments of 1850, making the judicial offices of the state elective, the status of the then sitting judges was not disturbed: so that Samuel A. Gil- more, who had been appointed president judge as successor to Judge Ewing, in 1848, continued to serve under that appointment. and at the election in October, 1851, was chosen for a term of ten years under the

515

WASHINGTON COUNTY

provision of the amended judicial system of . merous changes were made in the judicial 1850. Associated with him in Washington county were Messrs. John Freeman, Isaac Hodgens, Jacob Slagle, Abraham Watring, James G. Hart and William Van Kirk.

Succeeding Judge Gilmore in 1861, James Lindsey was elected president judge, his as- sociates being Messrs. Thomas McCarroll and James G. Hart.

Hon. James Lindsey was only thirty-four years old when clected to the bench, but dur- ing the two years and nine months that he filled his honorable and exacting office, lie won universal admiration, proving himself a worthy successor to his able and worthy predecessors. He began the practice of his profession at Waynesburg in 1849 and died near there, after a brief illness, on September 1, 1864. To fill the vacancy thus occasioned during the interim until the next general election, Governor Curtin commissioned as president judge Mr. James Watson, who, though appreciating the honor, felt com- pelled to decline it, and Mr. J. Kennedy Ew- ing, whose father had filled the same office so eminently, was appointed, and served un- til October, 1865, but in the election then held, he failed of an election, his successful competitor being Hon. Samuel A. Gilmore, who filled the office from 1848 to 1861. Judge Gilmore, however, though commis- sioned, did not enter upon the duties of the office, for before the first term of court fol- lowing his election convened the legislature passed an act changing the Fourteenth dis- trict, by taking therefrom Washington county and joining it with Beaver county to form the Twenty-seventh district. And n- der authority of the same act Governor Cur- tin appointed Mr. B. B. Chamberlin to serve as president judge of the new dis- triet till December, 1866. During the ten vears succeeding the general election in October, 1866, Alexander W. Acheson served as president judge. Under the new consti- tution, which went into effect in 1874, nu-

system of the state; one of these provided that counties having forty thousand inhab- itants should form separate districts, and elect one judge learned in the law. Addi. tional judges were to be provided by the general assembly, as required. The office of associate judge in districts comprising sin- gle counties was abolished. Washington county then having more than the requisite number of inhabitants, was accordingly con- stituted the Twenty-seventh judicial district.

Hon. Alexander W. Acheson was an able lawyer, a wise and conscientious judge and as a man connnanded universal confidence and respect. At the close of his judicial term he resumed his profession at Washing- ton.

Hon. George S. Hart, his successor on the bench, came to the office of president judge in 1876, and was a native of Pittsburgh, born in 1824. He was graduated from Washing- ton college in 1842 at the age of eighteen. and four years later was admitted to the bar. Aside from his professional work he took an active part in public affairs, serving as deputy attorney general, newspaper editor, member of the Washington school board, and in other local offices.

Hon. James Addison McIlvaine, who suc- ceeded Judge Hart, was born in Somerset township, Washington county, Pennsyl- vania, April 13, 1843. He was educated in the common schools of Washington county. and at Jefferson college, graduating from the latter institution in 1865, he studied law in the office of Boyd Crumrine, at Washing- ton, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He was elected district attorney of Washing- ton county in 1874, and re-elected in 1877. serving two terms of three years each. In 1886 he was elected president judge of his county, and was re-elected in 1896. His sec- ond term expires in 1906.

Hon. James Franklin Taylor was born il: Strabane township, Washington county,

516

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

Pennsylvania, January 15, 1854, to William H. and Jane (Jones) Taylor. He was edu- eated in the common schools, and attended Washington and Jefferson college through the junior year. He registered as student at law in the office of Boyd Crumrine, and after the usual course of study, was admitted to the Washington county bar in 1879. He was eleeted distriet attorney for the county in 1884, and by re-election served two terms of three years each. In 1895, he was appointed additional law judge, and during the same year he was elected for a full term of ten years, and is the present ineumbent.

Thus during the one hundred and twenty- two years sinee the organization of Wash- ington eounty, the office of president judge has been ably and honorably filled by the following named lawyers, to-wit: Henry Taylor, Dorsey Pentecost, Alexander Addi- son, Samuel Roberts, Thomas H. Baird, Na- thaniel Ewing, Samuel A. Gilmore, James Lindsey, James Watson, J. Kennedy Ewing, B. B. Chamberlin, Alexander W. Acheson, George S. Hart, James Addison MeIlvaine, James Franklin Taylor.

During the same time those officiating as associate judges were William Scott, John Craig, John White, Daniel Leet, John Mar- shall, John Douglass, Benjamin Parkinson, John Reed, Abner Howell, Matthew MeCon- nell, Samuel Johnston, Samuel Mason, Mat- thew Ritchie, John Canon, Henry Vanmetre, William Johnston, John Hoge, Thomas Seott, John Worth, Joseph Seott, Samuel Glasgow, William Wallace, James Edgar, William MeFarland, Hugh Seott, William Smiley, Eleazer Jenkins, Absolom Baird, Thomas Ryerson, John Minor, William Smith, James Bell, James Areher, Zeph. Beall, James Mitchell, Henry Graham, Hen- ry Taylor, James Allison, William Hoge, John MeDowell, Boyd Mereer, John Hamil- ton, Thomas MeKeever, Samuel Hill, John Grayson, Sr., James Gordon. Isaae Hodgens, William Vankirk, Abraham Votring, John

Freeman, James G. Hart, Jacob Slagle, Thomas MeCarroll, John C. Chambers, John Farrar, Thomas W. Bradley, John Seott and others whose names we have been unable to gather.

Washington county, ranking among the foremost in the commonwealth in everything pertaining to material growth, educational development and general prosperity, has al- ways been famed for the high standing, sta- bility and exeellenee of her eourts; a fact which is due not alone to the eharaeter of the able and honorable men who have pre- sided over them and controlled their affairs, but as well, and in no small measure, to a long list of noble men, whose names have graeed the honor roll of lawyers who have been admitted to and praetieed at her bar. Of these, many have been ealled to and honorably filled high places of publie trust; and to say of them, as a elass, that their faithfulness and sturdy devotion along the lines of professional duty have raised the standard of the profession and made the bar of Washington county strong in influenee and far reaching, is but paying a well-merited tribute to their nobil- ity, talent and worth.

The following is a list of the present mein- bers of the Washington county bar :

Hon. J. A. MeIlvaine, P. J .; Hon. J. F. Taylor, A. L. J .; C. L. V. Acheson, A. H. Anderson, Samuel Amspoker, Frank E. Baird, G. P. Baker, John. C. Bane, A. G. Braden, Isaae W. Baum, W. N. Butler, W. M. Boggs, William I. Berryman, T. F. Bireh. T. B. H. Brownlee, James I. Brownson. James R. Burnside, Charles W. Campbell. O. S. Chalfant, S. C. Clark, Norman E. Clark, Boyd Crumrine, E. E. Crum- rine, W. Mervin Craft, J. M. Dickson, John W. Donnan, Alvan Donnan, Henry M. Dougan, T. Jeff. Dunean, J. C. Ew- ing, James P. Eagleson, Henry Gantz, I. Y. Hamilton, Grant E. Hess, H. B. Hughes, B. G. Hughes, John C. Hart, Robert Gibson,

51%

WASHINGTON COUNTY

R. W. Irwin, Harry A. Jones, George O. Jones, J. L. Judson, J. Carter Judson, R. W. Knox, A. M. Linn, J. M. McBurney, L. Mc- Carrell, R. C. McConnell, M. L. A. McCrack- en, James W. McDowell, Joseph F. McFar- land, Winfield MeIlvaine, W. A. H. McIl- vaine, B. E. McCracken, Julius P. Miller, Julius P. Miller, Jr., John H. Murdoch, H. R. Myers, Edgar B. Murdoch, A. T. Morgan,

R. H. Meloy, James S. Nease, W. S. Parker, R. W. Parkinson, Jr., J. M. Patterson, Clar- ence Rhen, C. M. Ruple, Albert S. Sprowls, David Sterrett, J. B. R. Streator, A. M. Tem- pleton, B. E. Tombaugh, A. M. Todd, O. C. Underwood, Harvey J. Vankirk, W. K. Vance, James A. Wiley, Alexander Wilson, W. Parke Warne, Boyd E. Warne, Joseph Weir.

518

THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

YORK COUNTY

(Copyrighted.) BY DANIEL K. TRIMMER

Upon the erection of York county one of the first steps of a publie character was the organization of its courts. Indeed, the peti- tions to the provincial councils from the in- habitants that the territory west of the Sus- quehanna be constituted a separate county, set forth as the chief and almost sole reason why their prayer should be speedily granted, the inconvenience and annoyance of having the seat of justice at so great a distance, with a wide and deep river, frequently in- passable, intervening; and the difficulty of securing themselves against thefts and abuses committed by idle and dissolute per- sons, who, on account of the remoteness of court and prison, too readily found means to escape. Aecordingly, within a month after the aet was approved creating the county, August 19, 1749, eight justices were com- missioner by royal authority, through the governor of the provinee. This was in the twenty-fourth year of George II., the best of the Georges of England, then in the prime of his reign, and when the idea of a severance from British domain was not even thought of by the sturdy pioneers comprising the greater part of the residents of the newly formed county. Under the English polity then in vogue in the province justices, to such number as were from time to time deemed necessary, were commissioned, em- powered to hold courts of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, Common Pleas and Orphans' Courts.

These justiees were not men learned in the law, but in a historieal sketch of the "Bench and Bar" it would seem that they should be referred to, as they constituted the "Beneh" of the county during the first forty years of

its existence. The judicial system, as then established, to a superficial observer, might appear as open to serious objeetion. In our day we should not look with favor upon a proposition to submit weighty matters, in- volving the enjoyment of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to the charge and direction of men unaequainted with the phil- osophy and application of the principles of jurisprudenee. But when we reflect that on all the more important questions of law an appeal might be had to higher eourts, pre- sided over by judges of ample legal attain- ments, and that questions of fact are as readily discerned and adjusted by an intelli- gent and judicious business man as by a law- yer, we may understand how these, to our view perhaps, somewhat erudely constructed courts answered the purpose of their day and generation quite satisfactorily. In faet, in pioneer settlements it is frequently found that these unassuming tribunals, imbued with an abundance of common sense and good judgment, and untrammeled with un- yielding technicalities, better adapted to the shifting exigencies of the situation than the more pretentious ones where every step is measured by a legal yard stick, not unfre- quently found to be more of a hindrance than a help to the speedy adjustment of many of the disputes ineident to a primitive community, arising, in many instanees, through ignoranee, or out of fancied rather than actual infringement of rights.

Three of these justiees were required to bo present to hold court, and there seems to have been no rule or regulation as to which of them presided, at least none is apparent from the records. The eight commissioned in

519

YORK COUNTY

September, 1749, were John Day, Thomas Cox, John Wright, Jr., George Schwaabe (sometimes written Swoope), Matthew Dill, Hans (Hance) Hamilton, Patrick Watson and George Stevenson. The incompatibility of one man filling two or more official posi- tions simultaneously does not seem to have been considered in those days, for we find that of the above justices, two, Schwaabc and Watson, on the first day of the Quarter Sessions Court, qualified as county commis- sioners; Hamilton was sheriff, and Steven- son was prothontary and clerk of the courts. It also appears to have been not an unusual occurrence, after the court was open, for one of the justices on the bench to move the court for the appointment of a guardian or the transaction of other business within the legitimate province of an attorney.

The first court held in York county con- vened October 31, 1749, a Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, with Justice Day presiding; and the following day the first Orphans' Court was held before Justices Day, Cox and Watson. Justice Stevenson was also present, but as he officiated as clerk he apparently did not participate in the ju- dicial function. Somewhat peculiarly, he, the only lawyer among the justices then in commission, seems, so far as the records show, never to have served in a judicial ca- pacity. He occupied so many official sta- tions at the same time that he might well have been excused from the duties of some of them when there were others to attend to them. He was not only a duly commissioned justice, the prothonotary and clerk of the several courts, but also recorder and regis- ter of the county, public prosecutor for the crown and chief ranger for the county of York. He was a man of considerable attain- ments; had been deputy surveyor general for the counties of Philadelphia, Chester and Bucks, and later carried the title of LL. D. He resigned from the several offices in York county in 1764, and shortly thereafter re-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume I, Part 74

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