The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume II, Part 78

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

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year with the loss of voice and threatened disease of the lungs, just at the time when he had reached the point for which he had long been striving, to stand to the forefront of the bar of Northern Pennsylvania; his bright hopes seemed blighted and he was ap- pointed to sickness for a time. In 1841 he became a member of St. Stephen's church and was ever after faithfully devoted to his religion.

Judge Conyngham's sudden death oc- curred on February 24, 1871, from injuries received in an accident while on his way to the sick bed of his son, Colonel John B. Conyngham, in San Antonio, Tex. While standing on the depot platform at Magnolia, Miss., on Thursday evening about 9 o'clock, a passing train struek him and threw him under the wheels of the ear, which passed over both legs and otherwise injured him, so that he died two hours later. His body was taken back to Wilkes-Barre by his son, who accompanied him on his way South, and on reaching his destination, crowds of all ages and classes had assembled at the station, and deputations from the borough, the bar, the Masonic lodge and the police, eseorted the body to his late residenee with every mark of differential respeet on March 1, and his death was universally mourned. His last words were: "I know that my Redeemer liveth."

Hendrick Bradley Wright was born at Plymouth, Inzerne county, April 24, 1808. His father, Joseph Wright, was of that fam- ily of Wrights whose ancestors eame to America from England in 1681 with William Penn's colony of Quaker emigrants. His father removed from Wrightstown to Plym- outh in the year 1795 and soon beeame one of its most prominent and substantial inhabi- tants. Ambitious for the welfare of his son, he secured for him the best educational ad- vantages which the locality afforded, and in the due course of the sent him to Dickinson college, where he pursued the usual classical

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

and mathematical studies. Upon leaving college, he began the study of law in the office of the late Judge Conyngham of Wilkes-Barre and was admitted to the bar November 8, 1831. During the ten years which followed Mr. Wright devoted himself assiduously to his profession. He soon took high rank among the members of the bar, and as an advocate achieved marked pre- eminence. Above the middle height, of large frame, erect and commanding figure, with great power and a flexibility of voice, he was an orator who arrested and continued to compel attention. It was not without reason that his clients believed and said that no jury could resist him. Armed at all points with evidence, drawn from every available source and brought to bear upon the triers in such order and with such strength as to render the cause of an opponent almost hopeless from the outset; he followed these attacks with arguments of such earnestness and energy as rarely failed to complete the route and se- cure an easy victory. In truth, it may be said that in a just cause he never knew de- feat.

In 1841 he was elected to the state house of representatives, and at once became promi- nent as a committeeman and debator. In 1842 he was again elected and appointed chairman of the committee on canals and internal improvements. He also took a posi- tion on the judicial committee. In 1843 the nomination of state senator was offered to him, but, preferring the popular branch of the Assembly, he declined the honor and was again clected to the house. Upon the open- ing of the session he was chosen speaker, a position he most ably filled. Mr. Wright was a delegate-at-large to the Democratic na- tional convention, which met at Baltimore in May, 1844. He was first made temporary and finally permanent chairman of the con- vention.

From 1844 to 1852 Mr. Wright was again

engrossed in the duties of his profession. In the later year he was elected to Congress and served a term with marked ability. Hle was renominated in 1854, but was defeated by Henry M. Fuller. Colonel Wright (by which title he was generally known) having been commissioned by Governor Wolf, in 1834, district attorney, concluded to retire from public life and devote the remainder of his days to the law, but upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, in 1861, he was again called from his retirement. The nomination to Congress was tendered him by both political parties. He accepted, and was, of course, elected, and amid the perplexities and dan- gers which surrounded the federal Congress during the next two years he was distin- guished as a consistent and untiring advo- cate of an undivided union. At the close of the Thirty-seventh Congress for a number of years Mr. Wright held no national or-state offices, but he was by no means idle. Besides attending to a large practice and taking an active interest in municipal affairs, he wrote and published two works, the one, "A Prac- tical Treatise on Labor," the other "His- torical Sketches of Plymouth," his native town. In 1872 Mr. Wright was a Democratic candidate for congressman-at-large, and, having received the indorsement of the work- ingmen's convention, ran several thousand votes ahead of his ticket. In 1873 he was chosen to preside over the state Democratic convention which met at Erie, and was sub- sequently made chairman of the state central committee of the party. In 1876 Mr. Wright was nominated for Congress in the Luzerne district while absent from home and without his solicitation or even knowledge. He was elected by a large majority over the Hon. H. B. Payne, his Republican competitor. In 1878 he was renominated and elected. He closed his political life on March 4. 1881, after a service of thirteen years in the state and na- tional legislatures, and with his retirement

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LUZERNE COUNTY

from public life he also retired from business pursuits, and lived in comfort and ease until his decease.

He was married on April 21, 1833, to Mary Ann Bradley Robinson, granddaughter of Colonel Zebalon Butler, and daughter of John W. Robinson. Mrs. Wright died Sep- tember 8, 1871. George Riddle Wright, a member of the Inzerne county bar, is the only surviving son.

Hon. Charles Edmund Rice was born Sep- tember 15, 1846, at Fairfield, Herkimer eoun- ty, N. Y. He is a descendant of an old Wall- ingford (Conn.) family of that name; his great-grandfather having been a teacher in Wallingford and New Haven for over forty years prior to the Revolution. Thomas Ar- nold Rice, father of Charles E., was the lead- ing man of his town and for many years trus- tee of the Fairfield academy and the Fair- field Medical college. Charles E. Riee, son of Thomas Arnold and Vienna (Carr) Rice, was prepared for college at Fairfield academy, New York. After leaving the academy he entered Hamilton college, Clinton, N. Y., from which he was graduated in 1867. He then went to Bloomsburg, Pa., where he taught one year in the Literary institute, in the meantime reading law in the office of John G. Freeze of that place. In 1868 and 1869 he attended the Albany Law sehool, from which he graduated in the latter year, and was admitted to the Supreme Court of New York. He then went to Wilkes-Barre, where he has since resided and was admit- ted to the Luzerne bar February 21, 1870. He was a candidate of the Republican party in 1874 for Orphan's court judge, but was defeated. In 1876 he was nominated and elected district attorney of the county, and in 1879 was a eandidate of his party for law judge and was elected, and later became president judge of the Common Pleas court. Resigning this position, he was appointed Superior court judge, his commission bearing date June 28, 1895, and subsequently eleeted

for a full term, and at this time (1903) he is president judge of that court. His progress to one of the highest honors of the profes- sion to a position that would justify the honorable seeking of a lifetime, has been rapid, yet it has been meritorious and is the reward solely of valuable services faithfully performed. Judge Riee's practice in the courts attracted attention from its very be- ginning; there was a quiet force in his meth- ods, and a clean-cut vigor in his arguments that brought him at once into enviable no- toriety. In attestation of this was his nom- ination for the responsible position for judge of the Orphans' court within five years after his admission. Only two years later, as al- ready stated, he was made a candidate for the district attorneyship, and the remarkable majority by which he was elected was as much a deserved tribute to the popular es- teem in which he was held as to the fact that his opponent's nomination had been achieved in spite of the protests of a large eontingent, both professional and lay, of his own party. As prosecutor of the pleas of the eom- monwealth he achieved a most enviable repu- tation. Ilis pleas were calm, dignified and incisive and without any waste of words. When, in 1879, he was nominated for addi- tional law judge, the people had come to have great faith in him, knowing that his comparative youth was set off by a sober- ness of mood and maturity of judgment far in advance of his years. He was ehosen, as stated, in the three-handed contest that fol- lowed, and with the retirement of Judge Harding, in 1879, he beeame the president judge of the district.

Hon. Lyman Hakes Bennett was born in Ilarpersfield, Delaware county, N. Y., Feb- riary 20, 1845. He was of Quaker parentage and a descendant of Alden Bennett, a na- tive of Rhode Island. Phineas Lounsbury Bennett, father of Lyman Hakes Bennett, was born in Harpersfield February 15, 1806, and was a farmer by oeeupation. In 1830 a

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

teacher in the Nanticoke schools, was promi- nent in educational matters at Harpersfield and for over thirty years was superintendent of schools and trustee of his school district. He was supervisor of his town in 1841, and for many years a director in the Stanford Fire Insurance company. His mother was Minerva Hakes, daughter of the late Lyman Hakes of Harpersfield. Mr. Bennett worked on his father's farm until the age of twenty, doing the ordinary work of a farmer's son, going to school when he could be spared from the plow. In 1865 he went to Cambridge, Henry county, Ill., and spent one year there as clerk in the office of reeorder and elerk of that county. In 1866 he went to Washing- ton, D. C., and entered into the government employ as a elerk in the second auditor's of- fiee. He remained in this position till 1872, when he went to Wilkes-Barre and entered the office of his unele, Harry Hakes, and was admitted to the bar of Luzerne county De- eember 4, 1872. While in Washington Mr. Bennett entered the Columbia Law school and graduated therefrom in 1870 with Hon. George S. Ferris, now judge of the Common Pleas court of Luzerne county. Mr. Ben- nett was a very industrious and eonseientious reader, and there were few attorneys so truly zealous and untiring in unraveling the in- trieacies of a eause given him to try and bringing them within the light of the law. He was an examiner and master in ehaneery, and, as such, solved many knotty problems in a manner testifying amply to his great ability as a lawyer and to his judicial mind. His methods were those of a man who realizes that the profession of the law yields profit or fame to nothing less than hard, willing and unremitting work : and uniting with this wise eonvietions, a giant's frame and iron constitution he bent himself to just that kind of work. There was, in fact, no more indefatigable toiler at any bar in the state. He was first appointed and then, in 1895. eleeted judge of the Common Pleas Court for

a full term from the first Monday in Janu- ary, 1896.

Socially Mr. Bennett was a prime favorite with those who really knew him. He took lit- tle interest in politics beyond keeping him- self at all times well informed upon all ques- tions of the hour. A lawyer devoted to his profession and dependent upon it, has no time for more. He was married June 2, 1874, to Ella N. Robbins, daughter of Robert Rob- bins, of Dodgeville, Iowa. His deeease oc- eurred October 1, 1898.

Allan Hamilton Dickson was born Novem- ber 14, 1851, at Utiea, N. Y., son of Fred- eriek S. Diekson, author of "Dickson's Blackstone," an analysis of Blackstone's commentaries, and "Dickson's Kent," an analysis of Kent's commentaries.

Allan H. Diekson was prepared for college at Wyers' Preparatory school at West Ches- ter. Pa., and entered Yale eollege in Septem- ber, 1868. He remained there until Febru- ary, 1870, when an attaek of sickness eaused him to leave eollege. From March till De- eember of the same year he spent in New Mexico, as a guest of his brother-in-law, Colonel Wilson, who was there and assigned to duty as an Indian agent. In January, 1871, he again entered Yale and remained there till July, 1871, passing his sophomore annual examination and then received an honorable discharge from the junior class. Soon thereafter he went to Germany and re- mained in Heidelberg for five months, learn- ing the language, and then went to Berlin, where he took leetures in the university. He then traveled through Switzerland and Italy and returned home at the elose of 1872. In January, 1873, he went to Wilkes-Barre and entered the office of ex-Governor Henry M. Hoyt, as a student at law and was admitted to the Luzerne county bar September 14, 1874. Mr. Diekson was one of the ablest members of the bar. A liberal edueation, long and elose association with older men of established legal reputation, a natural ap-

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LUZERNE COUNTY

titude to logic and good general abilities combined to fit him for any professional test to which he chose to submit himself. His cases were always marked by careful prepa- ration and aente legal knowledge. He was a Republican, but not always in harmony with the dominant power in the party, as was in- stanced in the support of John Stewart, the Independent Republican candidate for gov- ernor in 1882, and upon other occasions. He was not an aspirant for any politieal offiee, although he was a member of the city eoun- cil, and in that body was vigilant, wateh- ful of the interests of his constituents and of the people of the city generally. He was a cultured man, fond of books, active in so- ciety and in various local charitable and other organizations, and in every other par- tieular a good and useful citizen, and his death, which occurred on January 21, 1893. was not only a great loss to the members of the bar of Luzerne eounty, but to the gen- eral public as well. He was married No- vember 12, 1874, to Catherine Swetland Pet- tebone, daughter of Payne Pettebone of Wyoming, Pa.

Alexander Farnham of Wilkes-Barre is one of a large number of those who have won special distinetion in the several walks of life in this part of Pennsylvania, and was born of New England aneestry on January 12, 1834, in Carbondale, at that time in Lu- zerne eounty, now Lackawanna, and one of the oldest cities in the state. His father was John P. Farnham, a native of Oxford, N. Y., who was educated as a physician and re- moved to Carbondale when quite a young man, where he practiced his profession for a few years. Alexander was edueated at Madi- son academy, Waverly, Pa., and at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston. Determining to enter the legal profession, he sought and seeured admission to the National Law school at Ballston Spa, N. Y., from which he gradu- ated while yet in his minority. His studies were still further pursued in the office of the

well-known firm of Fuller & Harding, eon- sisting of the late Hon. Henry M. Fuller and ex-Judge Harding. He was admitted just one day after becoming of age, that was on January 13, 1855. Being well grounded in the law, and patient and persevering in the advoeacy of a eause, these qualities soon beeame generally apparent and before long he gathered an important and profitable clientage. He is a Republican, and in 1870 was a candidate for distriet attorney, but was defeated. In 1873 he was again the eandi- date for the same office and was elected and discharged the duties of the office well and to the entire satisfaction of the people. He was a delegate to the Chieago convention, where the late President Garfield was nominated, and distinguished himself there as an ardent leader of the Blaine forces. On July 18, 1865, Mr. Farnham married Augusta, daughter of the late Rev. John Dorranee, D. D., of Wilkes-Barre.

George Washington Shonk comes of a German family and the progenitor of the American braneh thereof was John Shonk, who emigrated to America in September, 1790, his son Michael, George Washington Shonk's grandfather, being born on the pas- sage over. John Shonk settled with the Moravian community at Hope, Warren County, New Jersey, where he prospered, and where the house he built is still stand- ing. Michael Shonk married Beulah Jenks, who was of Welsh extraction, and whose family, traceable as far baek as the year 900, sent numerous representatives to Ameriea in its earliest years, and gave numerous deseendants who became men and women of distinction in many states. Michael moved from New Jersey to Ply- month in 1821, his son. John Jenks Shonk. the father of George Washington Shonk. being at the time but six years of age. John Jenks Shonk became a prominent figure in the business arena of Plymouth, and when bnt seventeen years of age was engaged in connection with general real estate and mer- cantile operations, which he sueeessfully

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

proseeuted through many years. In 1874 he was elected to the state legislature, and re-elected in 1876, the first time as a Prohi- bitionist and the second as a Republican. He was thrice married, his first two wives dying without issue surviving them. The third wife (George Washington's mother) was Amanda Davenport, whose ancestors were of New England origin, and among the earliest and most respected settlers in the Wyoming Valley. John Jenks Shonk amassed a considerable fortune by constant application to business, fortunate invest- ments and provident habits. George Wash- ington was born in Plymouth April 26, 1850. After a preparatory course at the Wyoming Seminary, he entered Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., graduating therefrom in 1873. He studied law with Hon. Hubbard B. Payne, and was admitted to the bar Sep- tember 29, 1876. On August 15, 1880, he married Ida E., daughter of Joseph Klotz, of West Pittston, and by this marriage they have two children: Herbert Bronson, born October 28, 1881, and Emily Weaver, born April 21, 1885. The Klotz family is of Ger- man origin, and has many and powerful branches in this eountry.

Mr. Shonk after his admission to the bar soon acquired a considerable practice, both profitable in a business sense, and a strong testimony of the high esteem in which his legal abilities were held. He was a Repub- lican in politics, taking an active interest in his party affairs, and in 1888 he was sum- moned to the chairmanship of the Repub- liean county committee, in which position he made a reputation and acquaintance that, in

1890, brought him the Republican nomina- tion for Congress, to which he was returned as elected, receiving 14,555 votes, against 13,307 cast for his Democratic opponent, John B. Reynolds; though the county at the same time gave from 2,000 to 2,500 majority for the Democratic nominees for state offices.

Mr. Shonk was a man of very able parts, though in his later years his almost exclu- sive identifieation with the mere business side of life somewhat obscured his splendid intellectual attributes.

Choosing the law for his profession he was one who possessed the mental caliber for suceess in that great calling, but his large business interests took him away from aetive practice, except in so far as concerned his own business affairs. But while he was a man of strong mentality, it is not as sueh he is principally remembered by those who knew him. His eharming personality and his large heart made him a delightful man to meet and know. There is perhaps no man in the Wyoming valley to whom the en- viable title of gentleman applies more truly and appropriately than it did to Hon. George W. Shonk. Uniformly genial and urbane in his manner to all, with a nature as purely democratie as could be found anywhere, and withal a mind of more than ordinary bril- liant endowments, his death, occurring as it did in quite the prime of life, was sin- cerely mourned by the people in general, and especially by those friends who knew him well and loved him for many charming ehar- acteristies. Mr. Shonk died August 14, 1900.

Solo Showk

1139

CARBON COUNTY

BY HARRY W. BROWN

Hon. Allen Craig was born December 25, 1835, in Lehigh Gap, which was then North- ampton county, but is now in Carbon county. He attended the public schools and prepared for college under the tutelage of Rev. John Vanderveer. He entered Lafayette college at Easton, Pa., in 1851, and was graduated in 1855. Soon afterward commenced the study of law under Hon. Milo M. Dimmick, and was admitted to the bar at Manch Chunk in June, 1858. In 1859 he was elected district attorney of Carbon county on the Demo- cratic ticket, and in 1865 was elected to the state legislature. He held that office for three successive terms of one year each, and in 1878 was elected state senator for a term of four years, from the district comprising the counties of Carbon, Monroe and Pike. In 1893 he was elected judge of the Forty-third judicial district, and has filled the office with satisfaction to the people, and credit to hin- self. '

Joseph S. Fisher was born at Summit Hill, Carbon county, April 14, 1854. After five years spent in Knox county, Missouri, he re- turned to Summit Hill and received his edu- cation in the public schools. He studied law with Hon. Allen Craig at Mauch Chunk, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1885. In 1888 was appointed county solicitor, and in 1889 was elected district attorney, was re- elected in 1892, and held the office for six years.

T. Allen Snyder, Lehighton, was born at Stroudsburg, Monroe county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1856. He was graduated from Mil- lersville State Normal school, studied law in the office of Hon. John B, Storm at Strouds-

burg, and was admitted to the bar of Mon- roe county in 1883. Subsequently moved to Lehighton where he has since remained.

William G. Freyman, attorney-at-law, of Manch Chunk, is a leading member of the Carbon county bar. He is a native of Mahon- ing township, Carbon county, Pennsylvania, and was born July 4, 1838. He is the son of George and Catherine (Kistler) Freyman, both natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer and carpenter, and also en- gaged in merchandising, and spent his last days in Carbon county, where he died in 1849. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Frey- man, and his wife, were both natives of Northampton county. John Kistler and his wife, our subject's maternal grandparents, also were natives of Northampton county. They were of German lineage, their families having immigrated from Germany to Penn- sylvania in a very early day. William was educated in the public and high schools of Carbon county, and taught school for five terms. He entered the service during the war of the Rebellion and served as orderly sergeant of Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- teer Infantry. After his discharge, he was commissioned lieutenant and recruited a company, but before it was mustered into . service the war closed and he returned home.

Mr. Freyman spent twelve years as a sur- veyor and civil engineer, and also engaged in merchandising. Ile pursued his law studies under Gen. Charles Albright at Mauch Chunk, entering his office in 1871, and in 1873 was admitted to the bar. He then became associated as a partner with his

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THE BENCH AND BAR OF PENNSYLVANIA

former preeeptor under the name of Albright & Freyman, and continued in that relation till the death of Gen. Albright, in 1880. This firm was engaged in the celebrated Mollie Maguire trials. After practieing alone for several years, Mr. Freyman formed with Mr. James Keifer, who had been a student in his offiee, a co-partnership which continued five years under the name of Freyman & Keifer. He next formed a partnership with Mr. Horace Heydt, who had been a student in his office, under the name of Freyman & Heydt, which continued till the introduction into the firm of Mr. Eugene O. Nothstein, a nephew of Mr. Freyman, who was also a student in his office, when the firm name changed to Freyman, Heydt & Nothstein. Since September, 1901, when Mr. Heydt was appointed president judge by the governor, the praetiee has been eondueted under the name of Freyman & Nothstein.

The praetiee of the firm, general in ehar- aeter, has embraced a wide range of import- ant eases and has been, perhaps, more exten- sive than that of any other firm in the eounty. Special attention has been given to litigation involving original land titles both in Carbon and adjoining eounties.

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The twentieth century bench and bar of Pennsylvania, volume II, Part 78

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