Columbia County PA Archives Biographies.....LITTLE, Robert R. 1852 - living in 1899
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  Author: Biographical Publishing Co.
  
  HON. ROBERT R. LITTLE, president judge of the Twenty-sixth Judicial District, to
  which position he was elected on November 8, 1898, stands among the foremost
  practitioners in the legal profession at Bloomsburg. He is a son of Ephraim H.
  and Eliza (Seibert) Little, and was born in Berwick, Columbia County, Pa., May
  30, 1852.
  
    Our subject's great-grandfather, George Little, who was a native and life-long
  resident of Connecticut, from which state he entered the Continental Army during
  the Revolutionary War, served throughout that memorable conflict. His son,
  George Little, the grandfather of our subject, when a young man left his native
  state and located in Delaware County, N. Y., subsequently removed to Wayne
  County, Pa., and finally settled at Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pa., where he
  died in 1851, aged seventy years. He was a tanner and furrier by trade, but
  during the latter years of his life was a merchant. He married. Mary Esterbrook,
  by whom he had six children, as follows: George A.; Ralph B.; William E.;
  Ephraim H.; and Mrs. Mary L. Grover, who resides at Jacksonville, Fla.
  
    Ephraim H. Little, the father of our subject, was born in Delaware County, N.
  Y., March 23, 1823, and soon after his birth his family moved to Montrose,
  Susquehanna County, Pa., where he grew to manhood. He read law with his brother,
  Ralph B. Little, who was an eminent lawyer and the preceptor of Justice J. B.
  McCollum, a distinguished jurist. At the age of twenty years he took what money
  he possessed and started West with the intention of going to Chicago by the way
  of the Great Lakes. By good fortune he managed to catch the last boat to make
  the trip that season, and the journey was a long and tedious one as the boat was
  greatly delayed by the roughness of the water which caused a number of
  accidents. Upon arriving in Chicago, which was then a mere hamlet, he found
  himself with but twenty-five cents in his pocket, and forty miles from his
  destination, Joliet, Ill. The latter part of his journey had to be made by stage
  and realizing that he did not have enough money to pay his fare, he offered the
  quarter to the stageman in consideration that he haul the trunk to the desired
  place. This the stagedriver refused to do, saying: "No, I will carry you and
  your baggage and you can pay me at another time." Landing in Joliet, Mr. Little
  again took up the study of law and in 1845 was admitted to the bar. Soon after
  he purchased the Joliet Sentinel on credit and conducted it for six or eight
  months. He then sold out and removed to Morris, Grundy County, Ill., which a
  short time previous had been made the county seat, and he was the first lawyer
  to locate there. He continued his law practice with much success a few years,
  when he met with an accident which caused him the loss of an arm. The knowledge
  of surgery at the time was very limited and he was confined to his bed for six
  or eight months, finally being compelled to submit to amputation of the injured
  arm. This reduced his physical strength greatly and he determined to get out of
  that malarial section of the country, acting on his physician's advice. He
  returned East, locating at Beach Haven. Luzerne County, Pa., where he acted as
  weigh-master at Weigh Lock on the Pennsylvania Canal. The canal was under the
  control of the state and it had been customary for boats to be run on Sunday,
  but Mr. Little, true to the Christian influences under which he had been reared,
  refused outright to perform his labors on the Sabbath. The boatmen were wroth
  and petitioned for his removal, but the governor of the state refused to remove
  him and the canal was thereafter closed on Sundays. While there Mr. Little made
  the acquaintance of Eliza Seibert, whom he married December 10, 1850, and soon
  after they moved to Berwick, Columbia County, Pa., where he lived until April,
  1860, when he removed to Bloomsburg. He there engaged in the practice of his
  profession and continued with the best of success until 1893 when he retired and
  moved upon his farm, just outside the corporate limits of Bloomsburg. As a
  lawyer he was unexcelled and his opinion was frequently sought by other
  prominent attorneys on intricate legal problems. He is a Democrat in his
  political affiliations, and has served three terms as district attorney. Rising
  to a place of prominence in the professional world, he commanded the respect and
  esteem of the entire community, and in his retired life he has been surrounded
  by many friends. Religiously he is an active and consistent member of the
  Baptist Church and has held many of the church offices. His marriage resulted in
  the birth of a son, Robert R., the subject of this personal history.
  
    Robert R. Little was eight years of age when his parents moved from Berwick to
  Bloomsburg, and there he was reared, receiving a good education in the
  Bloomsburg State Normal School from which he was graduated in 1872. He
  subsequently entered the University of Rochester at Rochester, N. Y., and then
  attended Hamilton College at Clinton, N. Y. In 1873 he entered his father's
  office and applied himself with such diligence as to be able to pass the bar
  examination two years later. He immediately became his father's partner and they
  practiced under the firm name E. H. & R. R. Little until the former's
  retirement. Our subject has since practiced alone and is patronized by a leading
  class of citizens and business men, having a large and profitable clientage. He
  is a man of great energy and indomitable will, and is untiring in the
  prosecution of every case he undertakes. He served as district attorney form
  1875 to 1881, two terms in all, and filled out two terms as county solicitor. He
  was also solicitor for the borough one term.
  
    October 15, 1878, Judge Little was united in marriage with Deborah T. Tustin
  of Bloomsburg, and they are the happy parents of three children: Henry J.;
  Josiah T.; and Catharine T. Socially he is a member of Washington Lodge, No.
  265, F. & A. M. In religious attachments he is a faithful member of the Baptist
  Church. Judge Little's portrait accompanies this sketch, being presented on a
  previous page.
  
  
  Additional Comments:
  Extracted from:
  
  Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District
  Published by 
  Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899)
  
  
  
  
  
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