The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume II, Part 76

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co.
Number of Pages: 1180

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On May 3, 1871, Mr. Hand married Miss Mary Lyman Richardson, daughter of Mr. John Lyman Richardson and Catherine Her- mans. Mr. Richardson was the first superin- tendent of the Luzerne county schools. They have eight ehildren, viz .: Kathleen, Isaac Platt, Jr., now of New York city; Bayard, a practicing attorney at Wilkes-Barre; Laura, Richardson, Joseph Henry, Emily and Philip Lyman.

Mrs. Hand is prominent and active in reli- gious and benevolent work as well as in social circles. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of the Wyoming Historical and Geological So- cicty and of the Wyoming Valley Country Club.

Andrew Hunlock was born in Kingston, Pa., May 1, 1839. He is of New England de- seent, from which place his great-grand- father, Jonathan Hunlock, Sr., emigrated at an early day, and was the first settler of Union (now Hunlock) township, where he located in 1773. Andrew's grandfather, Jonathan Hunloek, as also his father, Jame- son Hunlock. were natives of Hunlock town- ship, being born at Hunlock's Creek, Pa. The wife of Jonathan Hunlock. Jr., was Mary Jameson, who was born in 1780 and died in

1818 at Hunlock's Creek, where she lies buried. She was the daughter of John Jame- son, a descendant of John Jameson, who, in the year 1704, left the highlands of Scotland, of which he was a native, and sought a new home in Ireland. He settled in the town of Omagh, county of Tyrone, where he married Rosanna Irvin. He continued his residence in Ireland until 1718, when he emigrated with his family to America, landing, after a long and dangerous voyage, in the town of Boston, in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He remained in Boston until the spring of 1719, when he removed to Voluntown, Wind- ham county, Connecticut, where he pur- chased a tract of land, upon which he lived for many years and died. He had two brothers, Robert and Henry, both of whom emigrated to America and landed at Phila- delphia in the year 1708. John Jameson was a man of strong will and prejudices. It is said he never yielded until fully convinced of error.

His son, Robert Jameson, was born in the town of Omagh, Ireland, December 25, 1714, and was four years of age when his parents came to America. In the year 1747 he mar- ried Agnes Dixon, who was also born in Ireland and came to America when quite young with her father, Robert Dixon, and settled in Windham county, Connecticut. Robert Dixon was one of the committee of the Susquehanna Land Company.

Nathan F. Dixon, United States senator from Rhode Island from 1839 to 1842, was a descendant of the same family. In the fall of 1776 Robert Jameson and his wife, Agnes, with all their sons and daughters (except John, who had preceded them), bade farewell to their old home in Voluntown and set out for Wyoming, on the Susquehanna, thence to Hanover on a removal permit from a jus- tice of the peace. Robert Jameson lived nine or ten years after his removal to Hanover, where he died of consumption at the age of

JAMES L. LENAHAN.

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seventy-two. His wife, Agnes, died in Salem township in the seventy-eighth year of her age, and was buried in Salem.

John Jameson, son of Robert Jameson, preceded his father to Wyoming, where he arrived in 1773, and located on a traet in Ilanover township, between Wilkes-Barre and Nanticoke. IIe weleomed his father's family to this place in 1776. The same year he married Abigail Alden, who came to Wyoming with her father in 1773. Early in the spring of 1776, before the family of his father arrived in Wyoming, he enlisted in a company under Captain Strong, and was eleeted lientenant. In 1778, in company with his two brothers, William and Robert Jameson, he took part in the celebrated battle of Wyoming. Robert was killed, William was wounded, and John barely es- caped with his life, and upon eonveying the horrible news to his home, the Jamesons, Aldens and Hurlbuts fled for old Hanover, in Laneaster county. sailing down the Sus- quehanna river. When the families were safely landed in Hanover, John Jameson re- turned to look after the farm, ete., and the families did not return to Wyoming until 1780. On July 8, 1782, Mr. Jameson, with his youngest brother, Benjamin, and a neigh- bor, started from Hanover to Wilkes-Barre on horseback. John Jameson was killed on the way by Indians in the thiekets. The neighbor was also killed, but Benjamin es- eaped in safety. These were the last men killed in Wyoming by the Indians, and thus died John Jameson in his thirty-third year. Abigail Alden, his wife, was deseended from John Alden, the first of the American families of that name. and who was one of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620. He married Priseilla Mullins or Mo- lines in 1623. Capt. Jonathan Alden, son of IIon. John Alden, married Abigail Hallet in 1672. His wife died in 1725. Capt. Jona- than Alden died in 1697. Andrew Alden, son of Capt. Jonathan Alden, married Lydia

Stamford in 1714. Prince Alden, son of An- drew Alden, married Mary Fitch. Their daughter Abigail married John Jameson. John Adams, President of the United States, and John Quiney Adams, also President, were lineally descended from Hon. John Alden in the fifth and sixth generations, respectively. After the death of John Jame- son, Mrs. Jameson married Shubal Bidlaek, a grandson of Christopher Bidlaek, who died in 1722. ITis son, Capt. James Bidlaek, mar- ried Abigail Fuller and eame to Wyoming in 1777 from Windham. Capt. James Bid- lack, one of his sons, lost his life in the battle of Wyoming. Benjamin Bidlaek, a brother of James, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. IIe was the father of Benjamin Alden Bidlack, who represented the county of Lu- zerne in the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1834 and 1835. He was elected a member of Congress as a representative of Luzerne and Columbia counties in 1840 and re-elected in 1842. He was appointed by President Polk minister to the republic of New Granada, where he died. His widow, who subse- quently married Thomas W. Miner, M. D., is still living. Shubal was the third son of Capt. James Bidlaek, Sr. William Jameson, a brother of John, who was wounded at the battle of Wyoming, was murdered by the Indians in the lower part of the present eity of Wilkes-Barre October 14, 1778, and was buried in Hanover. The mother of Andrew Hunloek was Maria Royal, daughter of the late George Royal, of Germantown. Pa. The Royal family is of English deseent and emi- grated from New England to Philadelphia, where the grandparents of Mr. Hunloek re- sided for many years.

Mr. Hunloek was educated at Wyoming seminary. He read law with Lyman Hakes, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county November 10, 1868. He has never held any political office, but has been a trustee of the Memorial Presbyterian church of this eity sinee its organization. For a

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THIE BENCH AND BAR' OF PENNSYLVANIA

mumber of years he was president of the Anthracite Savings Bank of this city. Mr. ITunlock inherited a competence, to which he has since, by prudent investments, added very largely. His possessions include con- siderable landed estate; and the management of it consumes much of his time both as owner and as attorney. This interest has given him a familiarity with local land titles and the general subject of real estate law which makes him a recognized authority therein.

James L. Lenahan, a native of Plymouth township, Luzerne county, was born on No- vember 5, 1856, son of Patrick and Elizabeth (Duffy) Lenahan. His father, who died in December, 1899, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in 1846. He was for a number of years a retired mer- chant of Wilkes-Barre. The mother, a na- tive of Wilkes-Barre township, is a daughter of Bernard Duffy, who was born in County Louth, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States in 1831.

James attended the public schools during his early boyhood, and later spent three years as a clerk in his father's store. He then studied in an academy conducted by Mr. W. R. Kingman and finished his school- ing at Holy Cross college, Worcester, Mass. After leaving college he studied law in the office of his brother, John Thomas Lenahan, and on January 28, 1879, was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county. During the next two years Mr. Lenahan was associated with his brother in practice, but since then has conducted his practice in his own name. His professional work has taken him into all the courts, and in both civil and criminal practice he has conducted many important and noteworthy cases. Among these may be mentioned the prosecution, in connection with his brother, of "Red-Nosed Mike" for the murder of Paymaster McClure, which brought him into great prominence resulting

in his being retained in many other impor- tant cases.

Mr. Lenahan is a Democrat and has always been more or less active in the affairs of his party, and is recognized as an effective cam- paign worker and speaker. Ile was chairman of the County Democratic committee in 1882. and in 1885 was the choice of his party as nominee for the office of district attorney of Luzerne county, to which office he was elect- ed. In his religious affiliations Mr. Lenahan is a Catholic.

Mary L. Trescott, the first and only .lady attorney ever admitted to the bar of Luzerne county, learned the law and is now practic- ing in the office of Hon. Henry W. Palmer, ex-attorney general and member of Congress, one of the leading lawyers of Wilkes-Barre, with whom she studied for two years prior to her admission October 14, 1895, since which time she has enjoyed an active gen- eral practice of the law in all its branches, making, however, the Orphans' court and corporation law a specialty. which often re- quires her services in the adjoining counties to Luzerne: and from her ambitious nature and general capability, Miss Trescott has at- tained a position in her profession that few women and not a great number of men have been able to achieve and so readily retain. She is a daughter of M. B. and Permelia (Rhone) Trescott, sister of Attorney Rush Trescott, also a brilliant young lawyer of Wilkes-Barre, and a niece of ex-Judge Rhone, of the same place. She was born in Hunting- ton township, Luzerne county, Pa., where she first attended common schools, and later the New Columbus academy at New Columbus, Pa., and was also a student of the Eastman Business college of Poughkeepsie, New York. graduating from the latter institution in 1893. The father of our subject, Mr. Miller Barton Treseott, was a eivil engineer, which occupation he followed with marked success. Her paternal grandparents were early set-

Stanley Woodward,

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LUZERNE COUNTY

tlers of Connecticut, removing to Hunting- ton, Pa., about 1770.

Stanley Woodward, formerly additional law judge of Luzerne county, is the eldest son of George W. Woodward, ex-chief justice. Hle was prepared for college at the Episcopal high school of Virginia and at Wyoming sem- inary, Kingston, where Governor Hoyt was his instructor in Latin and Greek. From here he went to Yale college, where he distin- guished himself particularly in the literary and forensic departments of the college course in which he won several prizes and was elected by his classmates as editor of the Yale Literary Magazine-the oldest col- lege magazine in the United States. He grad- uated from Yale in 1855; began the study of law in New Haven, during his senior year, and upon graduation he entered the law office of his consin, Hon. Warren J. Wood- ward, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, now deceased. He was admitted to the bar of Luzerne, August 4, 1856. From the time of his admission until his appointment to the bench, he enjoyed a large practice, having been most of the time one of the counsel for the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western Railroad company, the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Railroad com- pany, the Delaware & Hudson Canal com- pany, and the Central Railroad of New Jer- sey. For many years he has been one of the trustees of the Home for Friendless Children, and was attorney and solicitor for this insti- tution for ten years, his services being a part of his donation. During the war of the Re- bellion, he was captain of Company H, Third Pennsylvania Regiment of Militia for about two months, in 1862. The following year he was captain of Company A, Forty-first Regi- ment of Pennsylvania Militia. This was in the Battle of Gettysburg, and he remained at the front for three months. In one of the campaigns he raised his company in one night. In 1879 Mr. Woodward was appointed additional law judge of Luzerne county to fill

a vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Garrick M. Harding. This appointment was made by Governor Hoyt, and was a grateful recognition of Mr. Woodward's abilities at the hands of a political opponent. In the fall of 1880 he received the nomination for additional law judge at the hands of the Democratic party, and was elected unani- mously for a term of ten years. From 1860 to 1863 he represented the Second ward in the council of the borough of Wilkes-Barre. During the latter part of 1855 and early part of 1856 he edited the "Luzerne Union." Upon his retirement from the bench he re- sumed the practice of his profession, in which he is still actively engaged.

Rush Trescott, a native of Luzerne county, was born in Huntington township, October 5, 1868, to Miller Barton and Permelia (Rhone) Trescott, the latter a sister of ex- Judge Rhone, of Luzerne county. His father was a civil engineer and served three terms as surveyor of Luzerne county. Peter S. Trescott, the grandfather, was a native of Connecticut, immigrated to Pennsylvania about 1770, and died in 1884 at the age of ninety-six years. His grandmother's name was Susan Miller, also a native of Connecti- cut. His maternal grandparents were George and Mary (Stevens) Rhone, both natives of Pennsylvania. Young Mr. Trescott received his first education in the public schools, then at the Huntington Mills academy, later at- tending the Dickinson college at Carlisle, from which institution he graduated in the class of 1895. He also attended the Dickin- son school of law, and was admitted to the bar June 6, 1895, at Carlisle, and to the Luzerne county bar at Wilkes-Barre on June 17, 1895, where he at once opened an office and began a general practice of law which has extended to adjoining counties and all state and federal courts, in which he has been eminently successful. Mr. Trescott is a Dem- ocrat in political opinion, and has been active in the affairs of his party. He was appointed

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

first assistant district attorney of his county in 1898, under T. R. Martin, and held the office three years. He was chairman of the County Democratie committee in 1897 and a candidate of his party for Congress. At Wilkes-Barre, June 7, 1899, he was married to Miss May Wilbur.

Hon. George Steele Ferris, who is a native of Pittston, in Luzerne county, traces his an- cestry back through early colonial times to Samuel Ferris, who resided in Stratford, Conn., as early as 1655, and who immigrated from Reading, Warwickshire, England, and was one of the early settlers of the Massa- chusetts colony. Benjamin Ferris, Jr., of this family, who was born in 1738, was a son of Benjamin and Mary (Howland) Ferris, the latter being a great-granddaughter of Lord Edmund Fitzgerald. Our subject was born on April 28, 1849, to Edwin Fitzgerald and Mar- garet (Steele) Ferris. The father was born at Unadilla, New York, February 19, 1822. He came to the Wyoming Valley with the late Ruben Nelson, D. D., and after the open- ing of Wyoming seminary, on September 24, 1844, became a teacher there. He died at Pittston on June 7, 1877. Our subject's pa- ternal grandparents were Eber and Betsey Ferris, the former of whom was born at New- ton, Connecticut, May 26, 1784. His mother was born June 23, 1826, and was a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Ransom) Steele, the latter of whom was born September 11, 1784, and was a daughter of Col. George P. Ran- som, who served in the Continental army.

After finishing his preliminary studies, George S. attended Columbia college, Wash- ington, D. C., and in 1869 was graduated from Allegheny college, Meadville. During the years 1870-71 he served as a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington, D. C., and at the same time pursued a course of law studies at the Columbia law school, where he was graduated in 1871 and admitted to the Supreme Court of the District of Colum- bia. Returning to Pittston, young Ferris

entered the law office of the late C. S. Stark, and on February 19, 1872, was admitted to the bar of Luzerne. At once opening an office at Pittston, he began the practice of his profession, and during the thirty years of his active practice, he established a large clientage, giving his special attention to work in the Civil and Orphans' Courts, and becoming widely known as a wise, safe and reliable counsellor and adviser. His services as attorney for the sheriff during the labor trouble, and again for that officer and his eighty deputies when prosecuted for firing into the mob resulting in the acquittal of all, brought him into special prominence. Mr. Ferris has been prominent and active in the affairs of the Republican party for many years, and is widely known as a convincing and effective political speaker. He has served as school director for many years; on numer- ous occasions has served as presiding officer of county conventions, and during the years 1898 and 1899 served as county solicitor for Luzerne county. In 1900 he was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court for a term of ten years, receiving a plurality vote of more than thirteen thousand in a county where the Re- publican and Democratic votes are ordinar- ily about equally divided. As a public-spir- ited citizen, Judge Ferris interests himself in whatever pertains to the public welfare, and is held in universal esteem as an upright man and fair-minded judge. He is a trustee of the Pittston Hospital association, and a member of the Order of Elks. His religious affilia- tions are with the Presbyterian denomina- tion. On September 1, 1875, Judge Ferris married Miss, Ada Stark. a daughter of Mr. Louis G. Stark, formerly a Nicholson, in Wyoming county, but who now makes his home with Judge and Mrs. Ferris. They have one child, Edwin Fitzgerald Ferris.

Hon. John Lynch was born November 1, 1843, at Providence, R. I. His father, Pat- rick Lynch. was a native of Cavan. in the County of Cavan, Ireland, and who emi-

GEORGE S. FERRIS.

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LUZERNE COUNTY

grated to this country in 1830. Here he re- mained for a few years, and then returned to Ireland, where he married, and again came to this country. He removed to Nesquehon- ing about 1846, and resided there until 1864, when he removed to Wilkes-Barre, where he died in 1878, at the age of seventy-five.

John Lynch was educated in the public schools at the seminary at Wyalusing, Brad- ford county, and at Wyoming seminary, at Kingston. During his youth he did the ordi- nary work of boys who have their own way to make in the world, working on the farm in summer months, and going to school in the winter. Mr. Lynch studied law with Garrick M. Harding, and was admitted to the bar of Inzerne county, November 20, 1865. He then entered the office of the late Charles Denison, and was for a year the chief clerk of the late sheriff, S. H. Puter- baugh. In 1866 he received the Democratic nomination for register of wills in Luzerne county, and was triumphantly elected, Cap- tain Henry M. Gordon being his Republican opponent. Mr. Lynch was the last lawyer who filled that office. Upon the organization of the city of Wilkes-Barre, in 1871, Mr. Lynch was appointed councilnan-at-large for the city, and filled the office for three years. During the years 1873 and 1874 he was attorney for the city of Wilkes Barre. In 1877 he was a candidate for the Demo- cratic nomination for judge, but the honor was carried off by ex-Judge Dana. In 1879 he was nominated by the Greenback Labor party for the office of judge, but was defeat- ed by Charles E. Rice. Mr. Lynch was mar- ried January 24, 1877, to Miss Cecelia, a native of Jenkins township, Luzerne county, and daughter of Patrick Lenahan, a native of Newport, County Mayo, Ireland. Mr. Len- ahan was for many years a prosperous mer- chant of Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Lynch built up a very large and lucrative practice, and was noted for the persistency with which he pur-

sued a case when once he had taken hold of it, until the last expedient was exhausted.

In polities Mr. Lynch has always been a Democrat, and, except when made a candi- date for judgeship by the Greenbackers, worked in each succeeding campaign earn- estly for the success of the Democratic party. He was appointed one of the Law JJudges of Luzerne county by Governor Pattison, May 14, 1891, and in the fall of the same year was elected judge of the Common Pleas Court by a handsome majority, and in the fall of 1901 was re-elected as president judge of the Com- mon Pleas Court of Luzerne county. Judge Lynch takes comparatively little time from his professional duties, but has managed, nevertheless, to acquire a familiarity with general literature and knowledge of men and affairs that makes him a speaker much sought after for publie occasions of a politi- cal or patriotic character.

(By George B. Kulp.)

Hon. Garrick Mallery Harding was born in Exeter, Luzerne county, July 12, 1827. He is descended from the Puritan stock of New England, his ancestors having, away back in the early dawn of the Republic, left the stormy beaches of Massachusetts to settle, finally 'mid the more sheltered and inviting silences of Pennsylvania. Mr. Harding at- tended Franklin academy in Susquehanna county, and Madison academy at Waverly. and afterward entered Dickinson college at Carlisle. Being quick to learn and possessing an active mind, he readily advanced to the highest place in his classes and was gradu- ated with distinguished honors. After leav- ing school in 1848, he began the study of law under the careful tutorship of Hon. Henry M. Fuller. Two years later he was admitted to the Luzerne bar. The bar at that time was conspicuous for the strength and ability of its members, among whom were the Hon. George W. Woodward. ex-chief justice of the Supreme Court; Hon. Inther Kidder, and

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THE BENCHI AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

Hon. Oristus Collins, ex-judges of the Com- mon Pleas; Hon. Hendrick B. Wright; Hon. Henry M. Fuller, Lyman Hakes, Harrison Wright, and H. W. Nicholson, men of great acquirements and marked abilities. The active energies that had served him so well in the elementary preparations of his chosen profession, aided him largely in subsequent legal battles which commanded the clearest comprehension of law, and the most intimate familiarity with' judicial records. Of fine personal appearance, he was a power before juries, and this naturally secured for him a large and lucrative practice. From 1850 to 1856 he was in partnership with Hon. Henry M. Fuller. In 1858 he was elected district attorney of Luzerne by the Republicans after a hotly contested compaign, in which General Winchester, a popular Democrat, was defeated. In 1865 he formed a partner- ship with his former student, Henry M. Pahner, afterwards attorney general, which continued until 1870. After a long and con- stantly developing practice he was, on July 12, 1870, appointed by Governor Geary presi- dent judge of the Eleventh judicial district to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. John N. Conyngham. In the fall of the same year he was unanimously nomin- ated by the Republicans of Luzerne for the same position, and the successful issue of that campaign gave ample evidence of his popularity, he having defeated the late George W. Woodward, ex-chief justice of the Supreme Court. On the bench Judge Hard- ing displayed those active qualities which had been a distinguishing feature of his life and the promptness with which he dis- patched business, the constant attention he gave to the duties demanded, the fearless methods that he employed, all linked with an integrity of purpose that was undeviat- ing, gained for him the highest respect of the bar and the wide plaudits of the people. In the fall of 1879, after nearly ten years of hard work on the bench, Judge Harding ten-

dered his resignation as president judge, to take effect on the first of January following. As he was quite earnest in his desire to re- tire, the governor accepted his resignation and appointed Stanley Woodward to fill the vacancy. Judge Harding at once resumed the practice of law, in which he is still en- gaged. Judge Harding was married October 12, 1852, to Maria M., daughter of John W. Slosson, of Kent, Litchfield county, Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Harding had a family of three children, two sons and a daughter. John Slosson, his eldest son, is a graduate of Yale college and now a practicing attorney at the bar of Luzerne. Harry, his youngest son, is also a graduate of Yale. The daughter, the eldest child, is the wife of William W. Cur- tin, only son of Andrew G. Curtin, ex-gov- ernor. Mrs. Harding died January 27, 1867. (By George B. Kulp.)

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The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume II, Part 76

Author: Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author:
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago, H. C. Cooper, jr., bro. & co.
Number of Pages: 1180