BIO: Hon. John Holden ORVIS, Centre County, Pennsylvania

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja and Joan Brooks  

Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/centre/
_______________________________________________ 

Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the 
Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing Biographical 
Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
_______________________________________________ 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, pages 8-14

HON. JOHN HOLDEN ORVIS, who died at his home in Bellefonte on November 6, 1893, 
was one of the town's most prominent and distinguished citizens.  He was 
descended from Puritan ancestry upon both his father's and his mother's side, 
the original ancestor of the Orvis family being among the emigrants in the 
second vessel that landed on the shores of New England in 1653.  The family 
subsequently removed to Connecticut.
  Jesse Orvis (1), many years before the Revolution, removed from Connecticut to 
the State of New York.  Several of his sons served in the armies of the United 
States in the Revolution.  Jesse Orvis (2), the youngest son, born in 1774, 
married Susan Holden, and removed with his family to Tioga county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1806.  Prior to this, Jesse Orvis (3), their third son, was born April 4, 
1804.  Jesse Orvis (3) married Elizabeth Rowley, who served with personal and 
professional credit in the Revolutionary army as a surgeon.  The Doctor's home 
during the war, and for some years subsequently, was in the present State of 
Vermont.  Having married Susan Campbell, he removed, in 1803, from Vermont, to 
the vicinity of Albra, Bradford Co., Penn.  Dr. Rowley died July 6, 1834, in his 
eighty-third year; and his wife on February 13, 1840, in her eighty-first year.
  The children of Jesse Orvis (3) and wife were:  Rev. Edward Everett Orvis, a 
distinguished divine in the Christian Church; Susan, married to Samuel Gillette; 
Lydia, married to Francis Warner; Irene, married to Victor Gillette; John 
Holden, subject of this sketch; Jesse Kilburn; Augusta, married to Nathan 
McCloskey; and Samuel, who died in childhood.  The mother, Elizabeth, died March 
2, 1842, a victim of an epidemic, and Jesse Orvis (3), in 1844, married Elmira 
Austin.  Prior to 1850 he lost his property in Tioga county by reason of some 
defect in the original title.  Impoverished and somewhat disheartened by this 
event he, in 1853, removed with his second wife and their children to 
Harrisville, Wis., where he resided until his death in 1881, when he was aged 
seventy-eight.
  John Holden Orvis was born in Sullivan, Tioga Co., Penn.  Owing to his 
mother's untimely death, followed by the financial misfortunes of his father, he 
was forced at an early age to begin his own support.  While yet a boy of twelve 
years, he came to reside in Howard, Centre county, with his half-brother, Orrin 
T. Noble, attended the common schools and at the early age of fifteen years 
became a school teacher in Curtin township, and as such assisted in the 
organization of the first teachers' institute of the county, at Oak Hall, 
October 1, 1850.  In 1851 he went to Baltimore, and there learned the art of 
printing in the office of R. J. Thachett.  From thence he went to Chester 
county, Penn., where he worked at his trade near New London, and attended a term 
at the New London Academy.  Returning to Centre county, he followed his trade of 
printing, also teaching school, notably one term, 1853-54, at Rock Hill 
schoolhouse, in Harris township.  Just before this he took charge of an engineer 
corps for the purpose of running an experimental railroad line for the P. & E. 
R. R. west through the Brush Valley narrows into Centre county past the villages 
of Rebersburg, Centre Hall and Oak Hall, and ending near the present site of the 
Pennsylvania State College.  This he did to the satisfaction of his employers, 
but the line was never adopted.  It is said that this was the first railroad 
survey in Centre county.  In public schools he was noted for his infallibility 
as a speller, and was the wonder of his schoolmates in mental arithmetic.  In 
his academic course of one month at a little academy in Chester county, he began 
algebra, then to him an unknown science, and passing rapidly two classes, 
finished the higher algebra with the graduating class at the end of four weeks.  
About the same time he recited the nine books of geometry in nine lessons, 
concluding in so incredibly a short period of time the work of several years in 
the ordinary academic training of boys.  He always intended to make the law his 
profession, and when nineteen years old arranged to read under the tutorship of 
Nathan L. Atwood, of Lock Haven.  He was born a lawyer.  Every instinct of his 
nature led him to it; during his preparation he drank deeply from the well-
springs of the English common law; Coke was an especially favorite, and he 
familiarized himself with the leading cases and decisions of the great 
chancellors 

Jno. H. Orvis [portrait]

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 9

and judges of the English courts.  He also thoroughly acquainted himself with 
the intricacies of special pleading and of technical practice, so that when he 
was admitted to the Bar in February, 1856, then just of age, he was grounded in 
all the general principles of the common law.  As soon as admitted, he mapped 
out and entered upon a wide range of legal, political, historical and forensic 
literature.  His memory was so remarkable that he could repeat long poems, such 
as "Lalla Rookh", or the "Lady of the Lake".  His voluminous reading was done in 
the early years of his married life.  So intense was his application to his 
books that at one time he almost lost his eyesight; this happened particularly 
from his reading aloud to his young wife the five volumes of Macaulay's 
"England" in four weeks time.  So retentive was his memory that what he had read 
in early years became part of his mental self, and he retained the power of apt 
quotation from the masters of English literature, that, while rarely indulged 
in, always surprised his audience.
  At the time of his admission the Clinton county Bar was composed mostly of men 
not far advanced in life, and he at once took a leading position among them.  He 
read deeply and carefully the laws of the State, for the purpose of 
familiarizing himself with the lines of decisions in the Pennsylvania courts.  
In this he was so successful that in later years no leading case or general 
principle laid down in Pennsylvania could be sprung upon him as a surprise.  So 
complete was his work in this direction that, when questioned upon it by a 
brother lawyer within a year before his death, he stated that "he believed he 
could truthfully say, and without egotism, that he was acquainted with all the 
leading legal principles laid down and reported by the Supreme Courts of 
Pennsylvania from the beginning of the Commonwealth to the present time."  Yet 
he was not so engrossed in the law but that he did not deeply interest himself 
in the political welfare of his country.  His family had been Democratic from 
the time of Jefferson.  He therefore naturally identified himself with the great 
party, and just as naturally took a prominent part in shaping its councils in 
the county of Clinton.  During the intense agitation preceding the war of the 
Rebellion he took a conservative view of the Calhoun doctrine, and advocated the 
rights of the States as opposed to the extreme views of the opposite party.  
While doing this, he did not sympathize with armed rebellions.  When, in 1861, 
President Lincoln made his historic call for the three-months' men, John Holden 
Orvis at once responded, leaving his practice and his family, and enlisted as a 
private soldier in Capt. Jarret's company raised in Lock Haven.  This company 
was attached to the 11th P.V.I., and at once went to the front.  Mr. Orvis was 
engaged in the battle of Falling Waters, the first of the bloody drama that 
followed, and by his side was killed the first Union soldier in actual fight.  
As his company was held in reserve a few miles away from the battle of Bull Run, 
he was saved from sharing in the doubtful honor as well as danger of that great 
defeat.  He was a good soldier, and performed good service on the Potomac and in 
the vicinity of Martinsburg, Va.  Unfortunately, from exposure to the fierce 
heat of the early summer, he received a sun-stroke that for a time rendered him 
unfit for service.  He returned home at the end of his service in the uniform of 
a lieutenant, and held a promotion to a captaincy.  He resumed his practice at 
Lock Haven, and in December, 1862, removed his family to Bellefonte.  At the 
first court in December he took charge of twenty-five cases and won twenty-four, 
losing only one.  The great ability with which he conducted the cases, and the 
remarkable success that crowned his efforts, placed him at the head of the Bar, 
where he had but one rival, the late Hon. H. N. McAllister.  Mr. Orvis at once 
formed a partnership with the Hon. C. T. Alexander, subsequently State senator 
from the district-a partnership that remained undisturbed until the elevation of 
Mr. Orvis to the Bench.  Before the law firm was dissolved, it was enlarged by 
the addition of Mr. C. M. Bower.
  Being an ardent Democrat, and finding the county in the hands of Republican 
office holders, he earnestly threw himself into the work of reforming and 
reviving the Democratic party.  Between the terms of court he zealously 
advocated the principles of his party in every village of the county, and 
demonstrated his powers as a political organizer by at once changing the 
Democratic minority to a strong and unfailing majority.  He was the author of 
the rules which govern the party organization to the present time.  It was his 
leadership, zeal and service that, more than other causes, saved the county to 
his party.  In 1872 he was unanimously nominated by his party to the State 
Legislature, and that fall was elected by a flattering and decisive majority; 
this election permanently settled the numerical supremacy of his party in Centre 
county.  As a member of the Legislature he immediately rose to the front.  His 
party instinctively gave him the leadership on the floor.  The State 
administration, though of opposite party affiliation, consulted with him upon 
all proposed important legislation of a non-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 10

partisan character, and in fact entrusted him with the introduction and conduct 
of most important bills.  His work in the committee-room and on the floor became 
so great that he was compelled to employ a private secretary, and pay him a 
salary equal to his own as a legislator, so that he actually served the people 
without compensation and at his own expense.  As his term of office immediately 
preceded the adoption of the new constitution, that has lopped off much of 
legislative abuse and corruption, he was necessarily thrown in opposition to a 
mass of corrupt and iniquitous bills mostly of a private nature, now fortunately 
no longer possible.  With the alertness of a lynx he detected every job, and 
dangerously corrupt "rider," and with the boldness of a lion opposed and exposed 
them in the House.  In the midst of unusual legislative corruption he commanded 
the respect of his compeers, and came out of his term without a suspicion on the 
part of his enemies.  In 1873 he was re-nominated and re-elected by a phenomenal 
majority.  He received the compliment of his party's nomination for the 
speakership and was the acknowledged Democratic leader of the House upon all 
non-partisan ones.  During this session he was more than usually active in 
attacking and punishing bribery in the "lobby" and the "house," exertions which 
lead the impeachment and expulsion of the most guilty.
  On the creation of the office of Additional Law Judge by Act of the 
Legislature of April 9, 1874, in the district composed of the counties of 
Centre, Clearfield and Clinton, the members of the three bars, without regard to 
political affiliations, unanimously petitioned the Governor to appoint Mr. 
Orvis.  In obedience to this demand, and in graceful recognition of his merits 
and distinguished services by a political opponent, Gov. Hartranft appointed him 
to the judgeship.  Judge Orvis accordingly accepted the appointment, and 
tendered his resignation from the Legislature.  In November following he was 
elected by the people to the judgeship for a period of ten years.  His elevation 
to the Bench was an epoch in the criminal history of the district.  He 
immediately reduced the number of drinking places in the district, cutting down 
those in Bellefonte from over twenty to three.  After his first court his name 
became a terror to evil-doers; the police were made efficient; the public were 
notified and assured that criminals would be punished, and under the efficient 
assistance of Col. Spangler, then district attorney, long trains of criminals 
were convicted of most serious crimes and sentenced to the severest penalties of 
the State.  Judge Orvis smote crime with an iron hand.  He did more-he crushed 
and destroyed it.  During the latter years of his term, the criminal weeks under 
his administration ceased to become features of his court, while terms would go 
by without serious crime, so that the office of district attorney actually 
became profitless.  Judge Orvis was the greatest reforming agency in the central 
part of Pennsylvania.  His greatness as a judge manifested itself more 
particularly in the trial of civil causes.  By his fairness and impartiality he 
at once won for himself the friendship and companionship of all the members of 
the Bar.  He was in no sense a case judge, but he was a great judge, because 
while giving due deference to the standing decisions of the Supreme Courts, he 
made his own rulings in harmony with the eternal principles of law and justice.  
Before his elevation to the judgeship his competitors acknowledged him to be a 
good lawyer, on the Bench they found him to be a great one.  As Gov. Beaver said 
of him in the memorial service held by the various Bars of the State:  "Judge 
Orvis not only knew the law, but he knew what the law ought to be."  So that 
when the circumstances demanded it, he did not hesitate to start out in new 
lines and lay down general principles consonant with human reason, but 
heretofore unannounced in the books.  For this reason appeals from his decision 
to the Supreme Court have established an unusual number of leading principles.  
Very few minds could reflect better than his the legal thoughts and language of 
the older judges, but it was not the cold reflection of some mere judicial 
satellite; his mind glowed with its own internal heat and warmth, and shone with 
self-created and luminous knowledge.  It was he that first settled the principle 
that where lands were divided by a county line, the tax sales of the county 
would convey title to the land only within its boundaries.  It was also he that 
checked the Supreme Court in its tendency to destroy the old common-law 
principle relative to the character and nature of negotiable paper.  It was also 
Judge Orvis that established and formulated many of the leading principles of 
land location in what was probably the most complicated system of land law in 
the world.  To be a good land lawyer in Pennsylvania requires extraordinary 
intellectual power and labor.  When one is a great lawyer, such as Judge Orvis 
was, he is necessarily a mental phenomenon.  The general reader cannot realize 
the force of this unless he has watched the course of some ejectment in the 
county, lasting for weeks and months, involving knowledge of the most 
complicated and artificial system of trial ever invented by 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 11

man, with a mastery over a myriad of technical points of original locations, of 
engineering, surveying, woodcraft, botany, topography, drafting, and of new and 
ancient titles marvelous to even the most initiated.  All these must one be and 
have to be a great land lawyer.  When Judge Orvis died he was the greatest land 
lawyer in the State.  It was he who presided over the celebrated ejectment 
brought by Burley against the Houtz heirs, which involved property to the value 
of millions of dollars, and it was his charge in that celebrated case that has 
been adopted by the profession of the State as the best text-book of land law in 
existence.  In obedience to the demand for it from every section of the State he 
was obliged to have it printed in pamphlet form for general distribution.
  About 1873 Judge Orvis was elected a trustee of the Pennsylvania State 
College.  The fortunes of this institution were then languishing.  It had been 
an experiment in the line of higher education to the agricultural and mechanical 
classes in the direction of their particular trades and occupations; the 
experiment up to that time had proved a failure.  The idea which had given birth 
to the college had been lost sight of, and it had sunk to the level of an 
ordinary preparatory school; the general sentiment was that the scheme had 
proved a failure, and that the institution should be abandoned.  In addition to 
these discouraging circumstances, it was overwhelmed with an indebtedness both 
funded and floating.  The college had, however, a few warm and faithful friends; 
these men - like Gen. Beaver - persuaded Judge Orvis to interest himself in the 
fortunes of the college.  Accordingly he was elected a trustee, and from that 
time to his death he gave his best thoughts and purpose and much of his time to 
the college.  Judge Orvis and his co-trustees at first met with many obstacles, 
yet they never faltered.  Year after year without compensation they worked, 
slowly at first, but step by step they reformed the purposes of the institution, 
and brought it back to its original position.  Their first success was in 
inducing the Legislature of the State to feel something of its responsibility by 
paying off the heavy indebtedness contracted for the building and plant itself.  
Conveniences being added, and its income diverted to the proper channels of 
education instead of paying interest, more and abler professors were engaged, 
and the scope of the institution enlarged.  Nothing permanent could be done 
until the right man could be secured for the presidency of the institution.  For 
years Judge Orvis and its other friends felt this, and hunted through the United 
States for their ideal president.  At last they found him in Dr. George W. 
Atherton.  After some delay they induced this gentleman to accept the 
responsibility of this position, and devote his life and strength to this 
particular work.  After years of experiment and trial, the trustees have the 
same confidence in Dr. Atherton as at first.  Things began to look brighter for 
the college; more students began to come; the Legislature manifested increased 
interest in its protege by erecting handsome buildings and finely-equipped 
laboratories, until to-day the institution is fast becoming the pride of the 
great State of Pennsylvania.  Judge Orvis' ambition for the State College was 
limitless.  His scheme for the future was a vast industrial university that 
dazzles the imagination.  While he did not live to see the realization of such 
golden dreams, he did live to see the success of his favorite established beyond 
question, and doing a great and acknowledged work in the line of industrial 
education.  His work and services will never be forgotten in the annals of this 
great and growing institution of learning, and he will ever be recognized as one 
of the moulding minds and hands of its career.
  During the great railroad strikes in 1877 that paralyzed the industries of the 
country from ocean to ocean, and were particularly dangerous on the line of the 
Pennsylvania Company, a spirit of anarchy and communism penetrated into every 
town and county in the State; the masses sympathized with the rioters and 
strikers, and those who did not were cowed into silence.  Bellefonte was not 
exempt from this; mobs took possession of her streets; sensational addresses 
were made to excited crowds, and prominent citizens were groaned at and 
threatened.  In this moment of danger some careless expressions of three 
business men were whispered through the streets and construed by the rioters 
into disapproval of themselves.  Immediately the wrath of an irresponsible mob 
was upon them, and they were hunted down like wild beasts; stores were broken 
into, violence used, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the men 
by the aid of active friends escaped from violence and fled from the town.  The 
mayor of the town harangued the people on the streets, read the riot acts, and 
ordered the citizens to their homes, but to no purpose.  His constabulary was 
powerless, or in active sympathy with the offenders.  Judge Orvis, then on the 
Bench, took prompt and effective measures to meet the emergency of the hour.  He 
summoned the sheriff, explained to him the gravity of the situation, and 
instructed him to use his powers and do his duty.  Under his instructions the 
sheriff summoned several 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 12

hundred resolute and law-abiding citizens, arming and empowering them to act as 
deputy sheriffs, and had them patrol the streets night and day.  Before such 
vigorous measures violence ceased, and the town at once relapsed into its wonted 
quiet.  On the trial of the offenders in a subsequent court, two were convicted 
and sentenced at hard work in the penitentiary.  It was said at the time that 
Judge Orvis was the one judge in the State that thus vindicated the outraged 
majesty of the law.
  At the same time, in the neighboring city of Altoona, a similar spirit 
manifested itself; in fact in greater crowds and still more violent and 
dangerous methods.  Gov. Hartranft ordered the militia of the State to arms, and 
Maj.-Gen. Beaver to take command in the city.  Unfortunately the railroads were 
in the hands of the rioters, and the transportation of troops both deficient and 
dangerous.  Still more unfortunately the members of the National Guard were 
badly disciplined, and too much in sympathy with those against whom they had 
been called to arms.  It was a dangerous crisis; the alarm of citizens was 
increasing, fires and murders beginning to occur, and no one could forsee when 
and where would be the end.  Gen. Beaver needed intelligent and patriotic 
assistance.  Judge Orvis, D. H. Hastings and a few other non-militants offered 
themselves as volunteers, and were gratefully accepted by the perplexed 
commander.  Judge Orvis was placed upon Gen. Beaver's staff, finally acting as 
judge advocate.  As a staff officer and in the councils at headquarters, no one 
showed superior discretion or courage.  Under these trying circumstances he 
displayed the same qualities of judgment, coolness and bravery that 
distinguished him as a jurist, and would have made his reputation in the battles 
of his country.  At one time it became necessary to take ammunition to a point 
some fifty miles west of the city; the officer in command sent secret 
intelligence of his wants to Gen. Beaver, but all trains were in the hands of 
the rioters, and the task of taking ammunition in person was one of such 
imminent danger that at first all shrank from it.  At once Judge Orvis offered 
himself, and Col. J. L. Spangler volunteered to be his companion.  To be 
successful meant relief to troops in danger; to be detected meant exposure to 
personal violence if not death.  During the night the two men prepared 
themselves, and had large satchels filled with cartridges.  In the early morning 
gray the two friends walked with their heavy loads, and boarded the train in the 
midst of suspicion and angry faces.  It took nerve to do this in a moment of 
such intense popular excitement.  Fortunately both men had it, and without 
accident reached in safety the place to be relieved.
  In 1883 the Legislature of the State erected the counties of Centre and 
Huntingdon into the 49th Judicial District, and made Judge Orvis its president 
judge.  In November of the same year he voluntarily tendered his resignation of 
the office for the purpose of resuming his practice of the law.  During the 
latter part of 1884 he formed a partnership with J. Frank Snyder, under the firm 
name of Orvis & Snyder, for Clearfield county, and January 1, 1885, formed a 
partnership with C. M. Bower and his son, Ellis L. Orvis, under the firm name of 
Orvis, Bower & Orvis, for the county of Centre.  Both of these law firms 
continued unchanged until his death.  From the time of his resignation until his 
last sickness, his practice was large, and assumed more and more immense 
proportions.  It led him into almost every county in the State.  His time was 
occupied with important legal engagements for every day for months ahead, and, 
with the exception of short vacations in the summer, his life was one of 
continuous legal battle in the various courts of Pennsylvania.  Those who knew 
him, and had some proper conception of the stupendous work he was doing, could 
not believe that one weak man could stand the strain.  So numerous were his 
engagements, that in spite of all his precaution, his presence would be required 
at the same time in widely different courts; the perplexity and anxiety arising 
from this multiplicity of engagements and the clashing calls upon his time would 
alone have broken down an ordinary man.  But Judge Orvis delighted in legal 
strife.  He loved a hard-fought legal battle, enjoyed its victories, and found 
comparative pleasure even in honorable defeat.  It was because he loved his 
profession and enjoyed the society of his professional brethren, even when 
arrayed against him at the counsel table; it was because all lawyers were his 
friends and companions, and none his rivals; it was because there was no 
bitterness to him in the victory of others, that he lived so long and stood the 
tremendous strain upon his vital forces.  What really killed him was overwork-
exhaustion of the vital forces-whatever other name physicians may see fit to 
give it.  The uniformity of his legal success is astonishing, considering the 
extent of his practice.  One reason of this is that he either prepared his own 
cases, or had them prepared by others whom he directed how to do it.  Another 
reason is that he would not intentionally undertake a case he believed without 
merit.  But the main cause of his success is that he entered the legal arena 
armed at every 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 13

point, encased in the full panoply of juridic armor, and that he never failed at 
the right moment to use the weapon that would pierce his adversary, if that 
adversary were assailable.  His mental resources were almost infinite, and he 
generally took the enemy unawares; then, again, it was his habit to keep strong 
points in reserve for an emergency, so that many a time he routed the other 
side, and convinced the judge at the very moment his cause seemed weakest.  His 
last argument to the court, his last reply to his opponents, his last words to 
the jury, were always his strongest and most unanswerable.  His argument was 
always strong and clear, even from the start, but his clearness and strength 
invariably made a crescendo.  His power came from his intense self-reliance, as 
well as from his intense truthfulness.  He never misquoted a case or consciously 
misapplied a legal principle.  The presiding judge as well as his opponents 
could implicitly trust his quotation from authorities, and rely upon his 
citation of cases.  He was too good a lawyer and too great a man to ignore the 
decisions that seemed to bear against him.  With extraordinary candor he was 
always willing to give these full weight; but his peculiar power consisted in 
nice discriminations between the application of principle to the facts in the 
cases cited and the facts in question.  More than any other lawyer living, was 
he able to turn the weapons of his opponents against themselves, and use the 
case most relied upon by them as the basis of an argument fatal to their 
position.  Many of his most brilliant victories were gained because of his 
ability to turn the enemy's artillery against themselves.  Though some few of 
his greatest trials were on the calendars of the criminal courts, he was only a 
great criminal lawyer because he was a great lawyer.  That class of cases was 
not to his taste, and it was always with reluctance and under pressure that he 
accepted such; the great bulk of his practice was in the trial of causes in the 
Court of Common Pleas and Appellate Court of the State, but he was an all-around 
lawyer.
  In the drawing of the ordinary legal documents, the preparation of pleadings, 
conveyancing, in the practice of the Orphans' Court and settlement of estates, 
in the drawing of contracts between business men, in the formation and conduct 
of corporations and partnerships, in the consultation in his private office, in 
the courts of equity-in all alike he excelled.  Though he was remarkably 
successful in persuading the understanding of judges, he was equally so in 
reaching the convictions of jurors.  His arguments upon facts were as clear and 
limpid as the magnificent spring that wells up in the town of his adoption.  
Jurors believed him because he never deceived them.  He had a reputation for 
telling them the truth.  He did not conceal or disguise facts that were stubborn 
and seemed contrary to his theory of the case.  He never twisted or distorted 
such facts, but gave them their due weight, and captured the understanding of 
his hearers by giving unexpected but translucent explanation of their existence, 
thereby harmonizing them with the structure he had been carefully building out 
of the evidence and obtaining the verdict of the jury.
  At the memorial service it was said of him that he was a master builder, that 
he laid his foundations deep, building his walls of ponderous but polished 
granite.  His work was beautiful and admirable because strong and true and 
enduring forever.  He did not delight in useless ornamentation, yet it would be 
a wrong to him to say that in his mental armory there lay only the weapons of 
logic.  He could shoot the sharp arrows of satire, wit, and humor, and many a 
fallacy has he pierced, and many a foe has he abashed with his truthful wit and 
genuine humor.  Sometimes, when the occasion demanded, he did not disdain the 
weapon of rhetoric, and when he felt strongly the wrongs of some injured client 
he would burst forth into pathos and a tremendous indignation that thrilled the 
crowded court-room and stormed the jury-box.  But in the main his triumphs were 
those of reason and a great legal and judicial mind, that forced its superiority 
to be acknowledged by all his associates and professional brethren.  To the 
world at large he was known as a distinguished lawyer, a stern exponent of 
justice, and the logical and invincible speaker in the courts.  But in the home 
and inner circles of his chosen friends he was a different personality.  To the 
public he was a man of iron; at home he was the tender, loving husband and 
indulgent father.  He was possessed of an exceedingly delicate organism; he 
could not endure the sight of pain or suffering in others.  Any genuine tale of 
woe would bring tears to his eyes, and he wept with those that suffered.  The 
news of the Johnstown horror prostrated him for days so that he lost his 
appetite and could not sleep.  No one that had the slightest claim upon him ever 
failed of sympathy or came to him for aid and went away refused.  He was 
generous to the detriment of his own fortune; so much so that he could keep no 
money about his person, for every one that asked received.  For this reason he 
did not accumulate, and was compelled for the protection of his family to place 
all the surplus of his earnings in life insurance.  He was 

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 14

remarkable in the tenacity of his friendships; his boyish companions retained 
his favor to the last, though many times this favor was sadly abused.  His 
charity was broad, though never paraded, and his alms munificent, though never 
known save to its recipients.  He was a man that bore no enmities, and kept no 
resentments.
  In early manhood he became a Christian, and was received into the church by 
immersion.  From that hour until his death he ever faltered in his belief in the 
cardinal principles of the Christian religion.  He was a Christian by belief 
from the outstart of his career, and the clouds of doubt and skepticism never 
cast a shadow on his clear intellect.
  Judge Orvis was married in the spring of 1856 to Miss Caroline Elizabeth 
Atwood, daughter of Origen Atwood, an iron master of near Philadelphia.  Their 
children were:  Ellis Lewis, born November 16, 1857; William Atwood, born in 
October, 1859, died in infancy; Jennie Irene, born June 30, 1862, now the wife 
of Albert E. Canfield; Anna, born January 23, 1864, now the wife of Harry 
Keller, a member of the Bellefonte Bar; and Caroline Atwood, born July 3, 1871.  
In his family Judge Orvis was generous and indulgent to a rare degree even for 
fathers.  His home life was a peculiarly happy one, and he was crowned with the 
love and admiration of his wife and children.  The only regret in the home life 
was his necessary absence from home in the line of his professional work.  When 
at home, where he loved to be with his own family, he welcomed his friends and 
neighbors.  There his social qualities and conversational powers appeared to 
their best, and there showed his love of music, flowers and children.