USA > Pennsylvania > The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume II > Part 61
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Fleming Nevin was registered September 17, 1897, and admitted June 20, 1903. Pre- ceptor, W. B. Rodgers.
Lewis J. Portman was registered June 15, 1896, and admitted June 20, 1903. Preceptor, Charles A. O'Brien.
D. A. Reed was registered March 15, 1900. and admitted June 20, 1903. Preceptors. Knox and Reed.
W. M. Robinson was registered March 15. 1900, and admitted June 20, 1903. Precep- tor. W. W. Smith.
William H. Thompson was registered June 15, 1900, and admitted June 20, 1903. Pre- ceptor, A. M. Thompson.
Thomas Watson was registered September 21, 1900, and admitted June 20. 1903. Pre- ceptor, J. Boyd Duff.
George E. Reynolds was registered Octo- ber 3, 1902, and admitted June 20, 1903. Pro- ceptor, Harry A. Miller.
1020
THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA
A. Bruce Coffroth (Somerset, Pa.), was admitted June 20, 1903.
S. B. Cochran (Armstrong county, Penn- sylvania) was admitted June 20, 1903.
Frank Ewing (Maeon county, Illinois) was admitted June 20, 1903.
John W. Cunningham was registered Sep- tember 12, 1899, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, James W. Collins.
Nicholas R. Criss was registered Septem- ber 26, 1901, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptors, Crumrine and Patterson.
Bernard Friedman was registered Septem- ber 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, W. J. Brennen.
Charles B. Fernald was registered June 21, 1902, and admitted September 26, 1903. Pre- ceptor, E. L. Mattern.
Joseph Hall Hill was registered September 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, William M. Hall, Jr.
Samuel J. Kornhauser was registered Sep- tember 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, Josiah Cohen.
Augustine M. Kossler was registered Sep- tember 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, J. L. Ralph.
John J. McCloskey was registered Mareh 20, 1903, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, John D. Watson.
Newton Byron Madden was registered March 20, 1903, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, E. L. Mattern.
Paul G. McClelland was registered March 23, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptors, Brown and Stewart.
James G. Marks was admitted September 26, 1903.
William L. Miller was registered Septem- ber 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, John W. Chalfant, JJr.
Warner Marshall was registered March 20, 1903, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, A. M. Neeper.
William Frazer Petty was registered June 16, 1899, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, R. B. Petty, his father.
Robert Blakeney Petty, Jr., was admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, R. B. Petty, his father.
W. Wallace Patterson was registered Sep- tember 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, James R. MeFarlane.
Walter P. Rainbow was registered Sep- tember 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, B. F. Thompson.
Charles K. Robinson was registered March 20, 1903, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, John D. Brown.
Lewis Miller Shafer was registered Sep- tember 12, 1899, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, N. W. Shafer, his father.
Thomas M. Shultz was registered June 15, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Pre- eeptor, D. T. Watson.
William E. Schoyer was registered July 5. 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Pre- eeptor, S. Sehoyer, Jr.
William A. Seifert was registered Sep- tember 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, T. C. Jones.
Harry B. Wassel was registered September 21, 1900, and admitted September 26, 1903. Preceptor, William M. Hall, Jr.
T. Mercer Morton was admitted Septem- ber 26, 1903.
1020a
ALLEGHENY COUNTY
And now for a few generalizations before we close. And first as to the bench of Alle- gheny county.
Here are the names of forty-one judges, covering our past judicial history of one hundred and fifteen years:
* Alexander Addison, John H. Bailey. Marshall Brown, Frederick II. Collier, Josiah Cohen, *Trevanion B. Dallas, *Thomas Ewing, John A. Evans, Walter Forward, *Charles S. Fetterman, Robert S. Frazer, *Robert C. Grier, "Hopewell Hlep- burn, *Moses Hampton, William G. Hawkins, *John M. Kirkpatrick, John M. Kennedy, #Walter H. Lowrie, James R. Macfarlane, *William B. MeChire, Samuel A. MeChing. *. John W. Maynard, John J. Miller, ;Thomas Mellon, +Christopher Magee, James W. Over, *Benjamin Patton, William D. Porter (pro- moted to Superior Court), *Samuel Roberts, *David Ritchie, Elliot Rodgers, *Charles Shaler, *James P. Sterrett, ;Edwin II. Stowe. *Peter C. Shannon, John D. Shafer, *Jacob F. Slagle, *George Wallace, *William Wil- kins, *Henry W. Williams, *. J. W. F. White.
A roll of illustrious names.
Their learning, integrity and zeal in the discharge of their duties has hallowed their memories in the minds and hearts of our people. If all were not great and wise, all were good and honest.
Twenty-four of these judges, marked *. have been ealled henee, and doubtless have received from the Great Judge of All the comforting salutation, "Well done, good and faithful servants; enter ve into the joys of the Lord."
The Hon. Thomas Mellon, Christopher Magee, Edwin H. Stowe and Josiah Cohen are with us yet in honored retirement. The Hon. William D. Porter has been promoted to the beneh of the Superior Court of the state, and the remaining twelve are on duty holding in high equipoise the seales of Justice before the people.
Our bar to-day, in ability, learning, esprit de corps and morale, is a fit child of its wise, intelligent and patriotic founders.
We have more members now than I can count on my fingers, the equals, if not the superiors, of Ross, Baldwin, Brackenridge, Forward, Mountain, Shaler, Loomis, Me- Candless, Darragh, Stanton and others whose names are held, kept and cherished memories of the past.
One of our members is now a judge on the bench of the Supreme Court of the na- tion; another on the bench of a Circuit Court of the United States; another, young in years but ripe in wisdom, is the attorney general of the United States; and yet an- other, who won laurels at our bar, is gather- ing in a richer harvest from a greater field, the Congress of the nation. Another is upon the beneh of the Supreme Court of the state.
We have given to the general government two secretaries of war, one first comptroller of the treasury, two attorneys general, three assistant attorneys general, ten min- isters and charges d'affaires to foreign courts, two secretaries of the treasury, one first assistant postmaster general, three judges of the United States Supreme Court, ten United States attorneys for the western district of Pennsylvania, and seven judges of the same court; also five United States senators and forty-two members of the National House of Representatives.
We have also given to our state two gov- ernors, 'one lieutenant governor, four state treasurers, three attorneys general, ten Supreme Court judges, one Superior Court judge, thirty-five County Court judges, thirty judges to courts outside of the county and state, thirteen members of our state constitutional conventions, two secretaries of the commonwealth, three territorial govern- ors, one governor to Michigan, eighteen members of our state senate, and sixty mem-
* Deceased. ยก Retired.
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA
bers of our house of representatives; and the West is dotted over with lawyers and judges graduated from the Allegheny county bar.
Students for admission must be well equipped to avoid failure. Drones and others intellectually, educationally or mor- ally unfit are inexorably rejected.
A member of our bar who breaks his word and deals dishonestly with court, client or fellow members is relegated as an ostracism more galling than disbarment itself.
The organization and conservative jaa"- agement of our Bar Association has a most wholesome effect in deterring from profes- sional misconduct, and especially in reliev- ing the courts from the investigation of complaints, mostly trivial and vexatious.
In the several wars of the country one hundred and twenty-nine of our enrolled membership volunteered and served on the - fields of strife, blood and death in defense , of our government.
MARTIN BELL.
BLAIR COUNTY
1021
BLAIR COUNTY
BY R. B. TWISS
It has been said that the history of a rev- olution is often but the history of one man. By proper antithesis, it is perhaps just as true that the history of a legal bar is the his- tory of many men.
When it is remembered that the compo- nent parts are the judges, invested with the delegated powers of the law, the attorneys and barristers who invite the application of these powers to obtain for suitors a resul- tant produet called justice, the offieer who records and perpetuates the adjudications of the court, and that other executive de- partment, which relentlessly enforces the law as crystallized into its peremptory man- date, many men with diversified minds give it body, efficacy and character. What they thus have done during fifty years eonsti- tutes its history for that period.
The bar of this connty came into existence in the year 1846. It had been a long struggle whether there should be a Blair county. The subject was first discussed about the year 1839. Hollidaysburg was then a pros- perous, growing town. It was at the head of eanal navigation. It was the point of transhipment from canal to railroad trans- portation. It was on the only traffie thor- oughfare in the state. These conditions brought many people here. The state em- ployed many men to operate the public im- provements. Large forwarding houses were erected, and their owners handled the ever- increasing freight tonnage passing east and west. Large capital was embarked in this business, and in mercantile and manufactur- ing enterprises. Bituminous coal found npon the land of Samnel Lemon, near the Summit, became a leading artiele of trade for domes-
tie use and transportation. Whilst it was the only great distributing point for a neighborhood of large radius, it was also the entrepot for the products of a rapidly developing territory. Its promise of a fu- ture urban population and wealth invited many from other parts, who came to share its generous and flattering fortunes.
This inereased population and business necessarily gave rise to litigation, and appli- eations for various purposes to the publie officers and the courts. Huntingdon county, of which it was part, had its county seat at Huntingdon, which lay thirty miles away, to be reached by laborious and weari- . some driving over two mountains. This inconvenience gave rise to the effort to have erected a new county, of which this busy and growing eenter should be the county seat.
During the six or seven years when the subjeet was discussed, whilst all were favor- able to the project, many were active in the work until it was finally accomplished. Among them should be named William Wil- liams, afterwards president of the exchange bank at this place; Peier Cassidy, a well- known surveyor: Peter Hewit, Silas Moore, Ed. MeGraw, John Walker, Dr. Joseph A. Landis, Dr. James Coffey, Samuel Calvin, William McFarland, Joseph Dysart, George R. McFarlane, William C. McCormick. James M. Bell and R. A. MeMurtrie.
The necessary legislation to erect the eoun- ty having failed at the first session of the legislature in which a bill was presented, it was finally enacted at the session of 1846, and was approved by Governor Francis R. Shunk on the 26th of February, 1846. When
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA
the news came to the people of the new county there was great rejoicing, and it was a day in this county capital in which the people were buoyant with an expectation they felt to be assured of great future devel- opment and prosperity.
This only in a measure was realized, for in a few years the colossus which reared it- self but a few miles away cast its shadow upon the new plant and chilled and checked its young life. It can, however, assume to itself one comfort-that it lives to celebrate its survival of its disappointment, and the possession of many advantages, conveniences and benefits which others do not have and which keep it abreast with the day's civili- zation, socially, morally and intellectually.
The county, under the act, took from Hun- tingdon county the townships of Allegheny, Antis, Snyder, Tyrone, Frankstown, Blair, Huston, Woodbury, and part of Morris. Bed- ford was compelled to give up North Wood- bury and Greenfield townships. Since then, the townships of Juniata, Freedom, Logan and Taylor have been formed from other townships. The boroughs of the county are Hollidaysburg, Gaysport, Martinsburg, Duncansville, Roaring Spring, Tyrone, East Tyrone, Williamsburg, Bellwood and Jun- iata. Altoona is the only incorporated city.
Thus, in 1846, a new county was added to the state's long list, with a population of some 17.000 and an area of 510 square miles. The population in 1890 was over 70,000.
It was, by the same act, made part of the Sixteenth judicial district. This district al- ready comprised the counties of Franklin, Bedford, Somerset and Fulton. Judge Jer- emiah S. Black was the president judge, and thus, by the enactment, he became the first judge of this county.
It is well, also, to remark that Huntingdon county formed part of one of the original districts of the commonwealth-the Fourth judicial district-which embraced many of the original counties, and which was justly .
noted for having furnished so many able and eminent judges and lawyers in both the su- preme and common pleas courts.
Until the new court house should be com- pleted court sat in the old Methodist church building on Walnut street west of Montgom- ery street. This was a one-story brick build- ing perched upon the brink of a hill, thirty feet from the street. The approach to it was by a broad stairway, and for the temporary purpose was convenient and suitable. On the 27th of July, 1846, Judge Black with his associates, George R. McFarlane and Daniel McConnell, at 10 a. m., ascended the plat- form, and the crier opened the court with the usual formality. Colonel John Cresswell was the district attorney, but there was but little to demand his official attention.
The following persons were sworn to the bar :
List of attorneys composing the original Blair County Bar Association.
(Members sworn in July 27, 1846.)
J. P. Anderson, Thaddeus Banks, Samuel S. Blair, A. W. Benedict, David Blair, Eph- riam Banks, Samuel M. Barkley, John Bro- therline, J. M. Bell. Moses Canan, Samuel Calvin, A. G. Curtin, John Cresswell, T. J. Coffey, Joshua F. Cox, A. J. Cline, Theodore H. Cremer, William Doris, Jr., David Huff. John Fenlon, James T. Hall. David H. Hofius, Charles H. Heyer, Michael Hasson, Isaac IIughes, Robert L. Johnston, William J. Ja- cobs, Alexander King, F. M. Kimmell, Joseph Kemp, J. R. Lowrie, William Lyon, Job Mann, John G. Miles, M. D. Megehan, R. A. McMurtrie, John Mower, H. N. McAllister, A. J. Ogle, William P. Orbison, James M. Russell. Samuel L. Russell, William M. Stew- art. J. S. Stewart, John Scott, Jr .. Samuel H. Tate, John Williamson, A. P. Wilson, S. S. Wharton.
Making forty-nine in all: On Tuesday, the 28th, three more were added: George Taylor. afterwards president judge; Alex.
.
Lauri Calvin
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BLAIR COUNTY
Gwin and John A. Blodget; making fifty- two as the original member of the member- ship.
No cases were tried and the traverse jury was discharged, and the court adjourned on the 28th of July.
A glance at the personnel of this court and its bar in the light of their subsequent history will disclose a remarkable body of men. They were educated lawyers. They were nearly all proficient in their profession- al knowledge and experience. The same care, zeal, eaution and research which the lawyer of to-day exerts, was practiced then. Ile strove to attain to the same acumen and success then as now. The professional am- bition and ethics of that day are indeed made more conspicuous by the lower grade of principle and tarnished acts, which too often offend the honorable lawyer of the present.
We can recall the appearance of the pres- ident judge. Ilis massive head and intellect- ual face were impressive to both aequaint- anee and stranger. He was the man of whom, under Dr. Johnson's conditions, it would be asked, who is he? He was learned, decided, courteous and dignified. Ile possessed the confidence of the bar, and during his remain- ing life he was the admiration of his many friends. He became a justice of the supreme court, attorney general of the United States and a delegate to the constitutional conven- tion of 1873. Ile continued, after leaving of- fice, to be one of the busiest and most emi- nent lawyers in the land. Ile was of counsel in the argument before the presidential com- mission in 1877 and his effort before the tri- bunal exhibited many of his most eonspien- ous, as well as most valued, characteristics.
Among those who were sworn to the bar before him on that day was one who subse- quently became as widely known as JJudge Black. Andrew G. Curtin was then but a modest lawyer in Bellefonte. His career in state polities as the great war governor of
Pennsylvania, minister to Russia, delegate to the constitutional convention of the state and member of Congress with national fame, is now easily recalled.
These two men met during the year 1873 in Philadelphia on the floor of the conven- tion. With no partisanship, they vied in the responsible task of perfeeting the fundamen- tal law of the state. Both achieved fame, both had the respect and affection of their colleagues, and both left their impress upon the instrument which now constitutes our organie law. Both were often participants in many controversies on that floor. The writer reealls a scene of pleasurable excite- ment and surprise when, in the discussion of the question of legislative apportionment, the judge learned from his adversary that his vast learning was of no value compared to the governor's practieal knowledge of men and things.
A well known figure at the bar in those days, and many years thereafter, was Mr. Miles. He was very fair in complexion, large and handsome. His reticence gave him a dignity which he never lost. He was labori- ous and indefatigable. Ilis arguments were long and exhaustive. Ile stood at the eoun- sel table to talk to the court, and sometimes stood at the witness box, requiring the judge to turn in that direction to faee him. His voice was high and sharp and penetrated every part of the room. His manner was earnest and convincing, and to the boyish mind the wonder was that anything more need be said. Ile continued in aetive prac- tice for many years and died in Peoria, Ill., in 1877, leaving an honored memory.
Samuel Calvin, son of Matthew and Mary Calvin. was born on July 30, 1811, in the village of Little Washington, in Colum- bia county. now Montour, Pa. His mother's people were of an old American family. In the Revolutionary war, three of her rela- tives fought with the immortal Washington for the Independence of America. Her fath-
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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA
er, Samuel Hutchinson, was a lieutenant in the Patriot army; an uncle, James Collier, was a captain, and her grandfather, John Rutherford, was also a captain. They were from Paxtung, Lancaster county, Pa. On his father's side he came from sturdy, hon- est stock. His father, Matthew, was born in Chester county, Pa., at the dawn of the Rev- olution. He removed to Columbia county, there entered into business, where he soon became a leading influential citizen.
Samuel Calvin after receiving elementary schooling at home, entered the Milton acad- emy, then widely known as the leading educational institution in that part of the state, whose chief instructor was the sehol- arly Dr. Kirkpatrick. After leaving Milton, Mr. Calvin took charge of the Academy at Huntingdon, Pa., and was its principal for nearly two years, during which time he had as pupils, many men who. afterwards became distinguished in public life. Among them were Judge William A. Porter, of Philadel- phia ; Titian J. Coffey, of Washington City, and Colonel William Dorris, of Huntingdon, Pa. He read law with James M. Bell, of Huntingdon, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1836. In July of that year he went to Hollidaysburg, where he suceessfully practiced his profession for many years. As a lawyer he gave considerable attention to the details of his case, and by a careful ex- amination of his opponent's position pre- pared himself to meet any exigency which lie thought might arise. In important cases, his preparations were elaborate. Although concerned in many cases in Blair, he also practiced in the adjoining counties, and dur- ing his active practice was a constant prac- titioner in the supreme court of the state. He was always strong on the "equities" of a case, and had but little patience with those who sought to win purely on techniealities. His friends regarded him as a man of high professional honor, a persuasive jury plead-
er, a wise, safe counsellor and an honest law- yer. He was a man of fine literary tastes and his extensive reading gave him a vast fund of knowledge upon which to draw for illustrations in his speeches and addresses. From early manhood he was active in poli- tics and publie affairs. He was always bold and outspoken, supporting with vigor what he thought right and earnestly denouncing what he believed to be wrong.
In 1848 he was elected as a Whig, a mem- ber of the Thirty-first Congress. His dis- triet was composed of the counties of Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Center. In that illustrious Congress some of the most distinguished statesmen of the country were engaged in prolonged debate on the slavery question. Mr. Calvin gave close attention and study to the subject but perhaps more to the Tariff. The policy of protection to American industries and development of American resources was the subject consid- ered by him of such vital importance to America, that he never ceased to advocate it during his life. At the expiration of his term in Congress, he was offered a re-nom- ination by his party, but deelined in order to give more attention to his profession. He was a warm friend of the American school . system, and served as a sehool director in the borough of Hollidaysburg for thirty years, nine of which he was president of the board. In 1862 he served as a private in the ranks of a militia company which went to Chambersburg to help repel a threatened Confederate invasion of southern Pennsyl- vania. In the summer of 1863, he again served as an emergeney man when a Con- federate invasion of Blair county was ex- pected. May 14, 1873, he was chosen a Republican delegate at large to the state Constitutional Convention to fill a vacaney caused by the death of Hon. Hugh MeAllister of Centre county. As a citizen he was al- ways public spirited, aiding with his purse
In: Dear
1025
BLAIR COUNTY
and voice every enterprise he believed would be a benefit to the community. Ile was an earnest political economist of the school of Henry C. Carey, and, like Carey, wrote and spoke extensively on the tariff and currency. He opposed the National Banks as banks of issue, insisting that their business should be restricted to discounting paper and receiv- ing deposits.
On December 26, 1843, he was married to Rebecca S., a daughter of John Blodget, Esq., a leading lawyer of Bedford, Pa. He died March 12, 1890, leaving as survivors his widow, Rebecca Calvin, one daughter, Eliza, married to Dr. G. W. Smith, of Hollidays- burg, and one son, Matthew. Matthew was educated in the public schools and Academy of Hollidaysburg and the University of Lew- isburg. He read law with his father, and was admitted to the bar of Blair county in 1873, and is now practicing law in the bor- ough of Hollidaysburg.
Colonel McMurtrie was a close friend of Mr. Calvin. Ile was for many years the commander of the militia under the old state system, and he mustered his undisciplined forces in the month of May for many years. Ile was a member of the legislature in 1863. Ile was long an active practitioner and stood in the bar and community as a man and lawyer of great probity and honor.
Robert L. Johnston, after many years of most active practice, became the president judge of Cambria county. Alex. King be- came judge of the Bedford and Franklin dis- trict, as did also F. M. Kimmell. Job Mann was a member of the Twenty-fourth, Thir- tieth and Thirty-first Congresses and state treasurer. Samuel L. Russell was also in the Thirty-third Congress and a member of the constitutional convention of 1873. A. W. Benedict, of Huntingdon, was a member of the legislature of 1863. John Cresswell was a member of the state senate in 1857, and was speaker of the house in 1889, and Thad-
deus Banks, a member of the legislature with John Scott in 1862. Mr. Scott after- wards became a United States senator, and at the close of his term became the general solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad com- pany.
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