HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 8, Cumberland County, PA

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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                              CHAPTER VIII.

BENCH AND BAR - PROVINCIAL PERIOD - FROM THE REVOLUTION UNTIL THE 
ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 1790 - CONSTITUTIONAL PERIOD.

                                   I.

                           PROVINCIAL PERIOD.

  THE bar of Cumberland County had its birth in the colonial period of 
our history - in the days when Pennsylvania was a province, and when 
George II was the reigning king.  Courts of justice had been 
established by the proprietaries in the settled portions of the 
province, at first under the laws of the Duke of York, and subsequently 
under the rules of the common law; but the necessity for them became 
greater as the population increased, as new sections were settled, and 
it was this necessity for the establishment of courts of justice nearer 
than Lancaster, in this newly settled portion of Pennsylvania, which 
was the principal reason for the formation of Cumberland County in 
1750.
  From this period begins the history of our bar.  For nearly one 
hundred years succeeding the settlement of Pennsylvania, few of the 
justices knew anything of the theory or practice of law, until after 
they had received their commissions from the King.  Even the 
"Provincial Council," which was the high court of appeal, and which was 
presided over by the governor of the province, had frequently no lawyer 
in it; but by the time of the formation of our county a race of lawyers 
had arisen in Pennsylvania, who "traveled upon the circuit" - many of 
whom became eminent in the State and nation - whose names will be found 
in the early annals of our bar. 

139  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

                         COURTS AT SHIPPENSBURG.

  The first courts in the Cumberland Valley were held at Shippensburg; 
four terms, dating from the 24th of July, 1750, to and including April, 
1751.  But when Carlisle (Letort's Spring, as it had been called) was 
laid out and chosen by the proprietaries ad the county seat, they were 
removed to that place.
  At the first term of court in Shippensburg Samuel Smith, who had been 
a member of the Colonial Assembly, and his associate justices presided; 
John Potter had been appointed the first sheriff, and Hermanus Alricks, 
of Carlisle, a grandson of Peter Alricks, who came from Holland in 1682 
with dispatches to the Dutch on the Delaware, and who was himself, at 
this time (1749-50), the first representative of Cumberland county in 
the assembly, produced his commission from the governor of the 
province, under the great seal, as clerk of the peace for the said 
county, which was read and recorded.

                        FIRST COURTS AT CARLISLE.

  The first court held at Carlisle was in the year immediately 
succeeding the formation of the county, and was "a court of general 
quarter sessions, held at Carlisle, for the county of Cumberland, the 
twenty-third day of July, 1751, in the twenty-fifth year of our 
Sovereign Lord, King George II, over Great Britain, etc.  Before Samuel 
Smith, Esq., and his associate Justices."
  These first courts were probably held in "a temporary log building on 
the northeast corner of the public square."  The court house was used 
during the Revolution, and as late as January, 1778, by Capt. Coran and 
a company of United States troops as a laboratory, so that the justices 
were compelled to hold courts at temporary places elsewhere.

                            THE EARLY COURTS.

  The justices who presided were commissioned, through the governor of 
the province, by the King.  The number of these justices varied from 
time to time.  The courts of quarter sessions and common pleas were 
held four times each year, and private sessions, presided over often by 
the associate justices, irregularly, as occasion called for.
  At the beginning of our history the public prosecutor was the Crown, 
and all criminal cases are entered accordingly in the name of the King, 
as:  The King vs. John Smith.  This is until the Revolution, when, 
about 1778, the form is changed to "Pennsylvania vs. ___ ___," which is 
used until August, 1795, after which the form "Respublica vs. _____" is 
used until August, 1832, when the word "Commonwealth," which is now in 
use, appears.
  The form of the pleadings at this early period may be considered 
curious:
  THE KING
     vs.          Sur Indictment for Assault and Battery.
CHARLES MURRAY.

  Being charged with avers he is not guilty as in the indictment is 
supposed, and upon this he puts himself upon the court and upon the 
King's attorney likewise.
  But now the defendant comes into court and retracts his plea, not 
being willing to contend with our Sovereign Lord, the King.  Protests 
his innocence and prays to be admitted to a small fine.  Whereupon it 
is adjudged by the court that he pay the sum of two shillings, six 
pence.  October term, 1751.

  Besides the ordinary actions of trespass, debt, slander, assault and 
battery and the like, there were notions in the early courts against 
persons for settling on land unpurchased from the Indians, and quite a 
number "for selling liquor to the Indians without license."  For the 
lighter offences there were fines and imprisonments, and for the 
felonies the ignominious punishment of the whipping post and pillory.

140  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  This was then the ordinary method of punishment and the form of the 
sentence was, to take one of many instances, "that he [the culprit] 
receive twenty-one lashes well laid on his bare back, at the public 
whipping-post in Carlisle, to-morrow morning, between the hours of 
eleven and twelve o'clock, that he make restitution to Wm. Anderson in 
the sum of 18l., 14 shillings and 6 pence.  That he make fine to the 
Governor in the like sum, and stand committed until fine and fees be 
paid." - [January term, 1751.]  "Twenty-one lashes" was the usual 
number, although in some few cases they were less.  The whipping-post 
seems to have been abandoned during the Revolution, as we find the last 
mention of it in the records of our court in April, 1779.  These 
records also show that the justices of the courts, who seem to have 
been ex officio justices of the peace, superintended the laying out of 
roads, granted licenses, took acknowledgments of deeds and registered 
the private marks or brands of cattle.  They exercised a paternal 
supervision over bond servants, regulated the length of their terms of 
service, and sometimes, at the request probably of the prisoners, sold 
them out of goal as servants for a term of years, in order that they 
might be able to pay the fines imposed.  In short the cases in these 
early courts, which had distinct equity powers, seem to have been 
determined according to the suggestions of right reason, as well as by 
the fixed principles of law.

                        FOUNDATION OF THE COURTS.

  In order that we may get some idea of the foundation of the courts in 
Cumberland County - of the authority, in the days of kings, from which 
their power was derived - it may be interesting to turn to the old 
commissions, in which the power of the early justices was more or less 
defined.
  A commission issued in October, 1755, appointing Edward Shippen, Sr., 
George Stevenson and John Armstrong, justices is as follows:

  GEORGE II, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
King, Defender of the Faith, _o., to Edward Shippen, Senr., of the 
County of Lancaster, George Stevenson of the County of York, and John 
Armstrong of the County of Cumberland, in our said Province of 
Pennsylvania, Esqrs:

  GREETING:  Know ye that reposing special Trust and Confidence in your 
Loyalty, Integrity, Prudence and Ability, We have assigned you or any 
two of you our Justices to enquire by The Oaths or affirmation of 
honest and Lawful men of the said Counties of York and Cumberland * * 
of all Treasons, Murders and such other Crimes as are by the Laws of 
our said Province made Capital or felonies of death * * * to have and 
determine the said Treasons, Murders, etc., according to Law, and upon 
Conviction of any person or persons, Judgment or sentence to pronounce 
and execution thereupon to award as The Law doth or shall direct.  And 
we have also appointed you, the said Edward Shippen, George Stevenson 
and John Armstrong, or any two of you, our justices, to deliver the 
Goals of York and Cumberland aforesaid of the prisoners in the same 
being for any crime or crimes, Capital or Felonies aforesaid, and 
therefore we command you that at certain times, which you or any two of 
you shall consider of, you meet together at the Court Houses of the 
said Counties of York and Cumberland, to deliver the said goals and 
Make diligent inquiry of and upon the premises, and hear and Determine 
all and singular the said premises, and do and accomplish these things 
in the form aforesaid, acting always therein as to Justice according to 
Law shall appertain.  Saving to us the Amerceiments and other things to 
us thereof Belonging, for we have commanded the Sheriffs of the said 
Counties of York and Cumberland that at certain days, which you shall 
make known to them, to cause to come before you all of the prisoners of 
the Goals and their attachments, and also so many and such honest and 
Lawful men of their several Bailiwicks as may be necessary by whom the 
truth of the matter concerning may be the better known and enquired.  
In testimony where of we have caused the Great Seal of our Province to 
be here-

141  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

unto affixed.  Witness, Robert Turner Morris, Esq. (by virtue of a 
commission from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esqs., true and absolute 
proprietaries of this Province), with our Royal approbation, 
Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province aforesaid 
and counties of New Castel, Thrent and Sussex-on-Delaware.  At 
Philadelphia, the ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand, seven hundred and fifty-five and in the twenty-ninth year of 
our reign.  Signed, ROBERT T. MORRIS.

  Another commission was issued April 5, 1757, to John Armstrong, 
appointing him a justice of the court of common pleas for the county of 
Cumberland.  The powers of these provincial justices were much more 
extensive then than those which belong to the office of a justice now, 
and for some time the county of Cumberland, over which their 
jurisdiction extended, included nearly all of Pennsylvania west of the 
Susquehanna.
  Many of the justices who were appointed never appeared upon the 
bench.  Not less than three presided at each term of court, one as the 
presiding justice and the others as associates.  Sometimes only the 
name of the presiding justice is given; sometimes all are mentioned.  
They seem to have held various terms, and to have rotated without any 
discoverable rule of regularity.  The justices who, with their 
associates, presided during the provincial period, until the breaking 
out of the revolution, were as follows:

                 JUSTICES DURING THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.

  Samuel Smith, from July, 1750, to October, 1757; Francis West, from 
October, 1757, to 1759; John Armstrong, Francis West and Hermanus 
Alricks, January, 1760; Francis West, July, 1760; John McKnight, 
October, 1760; John Armstrong, April, 1761; James Galbreath, October, 
1761; John Armstrong, January, 1762; James Galbreath, April, 1762; John 
Armstrong, July, 1762; Thomas Wilson, April, 1768; John Armstrong, from 
October, 1763, to April, 1776.
  The above embraces the names of all the justices who presided prior 
to the Revolution, with the exception possibly of a few, who held but a 
single term of court.  It will be seen that from October, 1757, the 
judges rotated irregularly at brief intervals until October, 1763, when 
John Armstrong occupied the bench for a period of nearly thirteen 
years.
  Of those justices John McKnight was afterward a captain in the 
Revolution; Francis West was an Englishman who went to Ireland and then 
immigrated to America and settled in Carlisle in or before 1753.  He 
was an educated man and a loyalist.  His sister Ann became the wife of 
his friend and co-justice, Hermanus Alricks, and his daughter, of the 
same name, married Col. George Gibson, the father of John Banister 
Gibson, who was afterward to become the chief justice of Pennsylvania.  
Francis West some time prior to the Revolution moved to Sherman's 
Valley, where he died in 1783.
  Thomas Wilson lived near Carlisle.
  James Galbreath, another of these justices, was born in 1703, in the 
north of Ireland.  He was a man of note on the frontier, and the early 
provincial records of Pennsylvania contain frequent reference to him.  
He had been sheriff of Lancaster in 1742, and for many years a justice 
of that county.  He had served in the Indian wars of 1755-63, and some 
time previous to 1762 had removed to Cumberland County.  He died June 
11, 1786, in what was then East Pennsborough Township.
  Hermanus Alricks was the first clerk of the courts, from 1750 to 
1770, and the first representative of Cumberland County in the 
Provincial Assembly.  He was born about 1730 in Philadelphia.  He 
settled in Carlisle about 1749 or 1750, and brought with him his bride, 
a young lady lately from Ireland, with her brother, Francis West, then 
about to settle in the same place.  He 

142  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

was a man of mark and influence in the valley west of the Susquehanna.  
He died in Carlisle December 14, 1772.
  But the greatest of these, and "the noblest Roman of them all," was 
Col. John Armstrong.  He first appears as a surveyor under the 
proprietary government, and made the second survey of Carlisle in 1761.  
In 1755 we find him commissioned a justice of the courts by George II, 
and from 1763 until his duties as a major-general in the Revolution 
called him from the bench, we find him, for a period of nearly thirteen 
years, presiding over our courts.  He was at this time already a 
colonel, and had already distinguished himself in the Indian war.  In 
1755 he had cleaned out the nest of savages at Kittanning, and had 
received a medal from the corporation of Philadelphia.  When, later the 
Revolution broke out, we find him, in 1776, a brigadier-general of the 
Continental Army (commissioned March 1, 1776), and in the succeeding 
year a major-general in command of the Pennsylvania troops.  He was a 
warm, personal friend of Washington.  He was a member of Congress in 
1778-80, and 1787-88.  It was, probably, owing to his influence, in a 
great measure, that the earliest voice of indignant protest was raised 
in Carlisle against the action of Great Britain against the colonies.  
"He was a man of intelligence, integrity, resolute and brave, and, 
though living habitually in the fear of the Lord, he feared not the 
face of man."*  He died March 8, 1795, aged seventy-five years.  He was 
buried in the old grave-yard at Carlisle.

                       PROSECUTORS FOR THE CROWN.

  In this provincial period these were our judges:  George Ross, 
afterward a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the public 
prosecutor for the Crown from 1751 to 1764; Robert Magaw follows in 
1765-66, and Jasper Yeates in 1770; Benjamin Chew, who was a member of 
the Provincial Council, and afterward, during the Revolution, a 
Loyalist, was, at this time, 1759-68, attorney-general, and prosecuted 
many of the criminal cases, from 1759 to 1769, in our courts.  He was, 
in 1777, with some others, received by the sheriff of this county, and 
held at Staunton, Va., till the conclusion of the war.

                             PRACTITIONERS.

  The earliest practitioners at our bar, from 1759 to 1764, were George 
Ross, James Smith (afterward a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence), James Campbell, Samuel Johnston, Jasper Yeates and 
Robert Magaw.
  From 1764 to 1770, George Stevenson, James Wilson (also a signer of 
the Declaration of Independence), James Hamilton (afterward judge), 
David Sample, David Grier, Wetzel, Morris, and Samuel Johnston, were 
the leading attorneys.  Up to this time Magaw, Stevenson and Wilson had 
the largest practice.  During this period, in 1770, Col. Turbutt 
Francis becomes clerk of the court, as successor of Hermanus Alricks; 
and from 1771 to 1774, Ephraim Blaine, afterward commissary in the 
Revolution, and the grandfather of the Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine, 
was sheriff of the county.

                            THE BAR IN 1776.

  During this first year of our independence the practitioners at the 
bar were John Steel (already in large practice), James Campbell, George 
Stevenson, James Wilson, Samuel Johnston, David Grier, Col. Thomas 
Hartley (of York), Jasper Yeates, James Smith, Edward Burd and Robert 
Galbreath.  It is a noteworthy fact that two of the men who practiced 
in our courts in this memorable year were signers of the Declaration of 
Independence.

  *Chamber's tribute to the Scotch-Irish settlers, p. 88.

143  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Portrait of R. H. Thomas

144  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Blank Page

145  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  Hon. George Ross, who, at the age of twenty-two, was the first public 
prosecutor for the Crown in our courts in Cumberland County, was the 
son of George Ross, an Episcopal minister, and was born in New Castle, 
Del., in 1730.  He began the practice of law in Lancaster in 1751.  He 
acted as prosecuting attorney for the Crown in our county from 1751 to 
1764, and practiced in our courts until October, 1772.  He was a member 
of the Colonial Assembly of Pennsylvania from 1768 to 1776, and when 
this body ceased, or was continued in the Legislature, he was a member 
of that body also.  In 1774 he was one of the committee of seven who 
represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress, and remained a 
member until January, 1777.  He was a signer of the Declaration of 
Independence.  He died at Lancaster in July, 1779.  In appearance 
George Ross was a very handsome man, with a high forehead, regular 
features, oval face, long hair, worn in the fashion of the day, and 
pleasing countenance.
  Col. James Smith is one of the earliest names found as a 
practicioner, in this provincial period, at the bar of Cumberland 
County.  There is a brief notice of him in Day's Historical 
Collections.  He was an Irishman by birth, but came to this country 
when quite young.  In Graydon's Memoirs it is stated that he was 
educated at the college in Philadelphia, was admitted to the bar, and 
afterward removed to the vicinity of Shippensburg, and there 
established himself as a lawyer.  From there he removed to York, where 
he continued to reside until his death, July 11, 1806, at the age of 
about ninety-three years.  He was a member of Congress in 1775-78.  He 
was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. For a period 
of sixty years he had a large and lucrative practice in the eastern 
counties, from which he withdrew in about 1800.  During the Revolution 
he commanded, as colonel, a regiment in the Pennsylvania line.  A more 
extended notice of him can be found in Saunderson's or Lossings' Lives 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
  James Wilson LL.D. is another of these earliest practitioners at the 
bar.  His name occurs on the records as early as 1763.  He was a 
Scotchman by birth, born in 1742, and had received a finished education 
at St. Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow, under Dr. Blair in rhetoric, and 
Dr. Watts in logic.  In 1766 he had come to reside in Philadelphia, 
where he studied law with John Dickinson, the colonial governor, and 
founder of Dickinson College.  When admitted to practice he took up his 
residence in Carlisle, and at once forged to the foremost of our bar.  
At the meeting at Carlisle, in July, 1774, which protested against the 
action of Great Britain against the colonies, he, with Irvine and 
Magaw, was appointed a delegate to meet those of other counties of the 
State, as the initiatory step to a general convention of delegates from 
the different colonies.  He was subsequently a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, and when the motion for independence was 
finally noted upon in Congress, the vote of Pennsylvania was carried in 
its favor by the casting vote of James Wilson, of Cumberland County.  
"He had," says Bancroft, in his History of the United States, "at an 
early day foreseen independence as the probable, though not the 
intended result of the contest," and although he was not, at first, 
avowedly in favor of a severance from the mother country, he desired it 
when he had received definite instructions from his constituents, and 
when he saw that nearly the whole mass of the people were in favor of 
it.  In 1776 he was a colonel in the Revolution.  From 1779 to 1783 he 
held the position of advocate-general for the French nation, whose 
business it was to draw up plans for regulating the intercourse of that 
country with the United States, for which services he received a 
reward, from the French King, of 1,000 livres.  He was at this time 
director of the Bank of North America. 

146  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  He was one of the most prominent members in the convention of 1787 
which formed the constitution of the United States.  "Of the fifty-five 
delegates," says McMaster, in his History of the People of the United 
States, "he was undoubtedly the best prepared by deep and systematic 
study of the history and science of government, for the work that lay 
before him.  The Marquis de Chastellux, himself a no mean student, had 
been struck with the wide range of his erudition, and had spoken in 
high terms of his library.  'There' said he, 'are all our best writers 
on law and jurisprudence.  The works of President Montesquieu and of 
Chancellor D' Agnesseau hold the first rank among them, and he makes 
them his daily study.'  (Travels of Marquis de Chastellux in North 
America p. 109.)  This learning Wilson had in times past turned to 
excellent use, and he now became one of the most active members of the 
convention.  None, with the exception of Gouverneur Morris, was so 
often on his feet during the debates or spoke more to the purpose."*  
[McMaster's History Vol. I, p. 421.]  By this time Wilson had removed 
from Carlisle and lived in Philadelphia.  He was appointed, under the 
Federal Constitution, one of the first judges of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, by President Washington, in which office he 
continued until his death.  In 1790 he was appointed professor of law 
in the legal college at Philadelphia, which, during his incumbency, was 
united with the university.  He received the degree of LL.D., and 
delivered a course of lectures on jurisprudence which were published.  
He died August 26, 1798, aged fifty-six.
  Col. Robert Magaw, was another practitioner at this early period.  He 
was an Irishman by birth, and resided in Cumberland County, prior to 
the Revolution, in which war he served as colonel of the Fifth 
Pennsylvania Battalion.  In 1774 he was one of the delegates from this 
county to a convention at Philadelphia for the purpose of concerting 
measures to call a general congress of delegates from all the colonies.  
He was a prominent member of the bar, a brave officer, and a trustee of 
Dickinson College from 1783 until his death.  He had a very large 
practice prior to the Revolution.  He died January 7, 1790.
  The name of Jasper Yeates appears upon our records as early as 1763, 
and for a period of twenty-one years (1784) his name appears as a 
practitioner at our bar.  He resided in Lancaster.  He was an excellent 
lawyer and practiced over a large territory in the eastern counties of 
the State.  On March 21, 1791, he was appointed by Gov. Mifflin one of 
the associate justices of the supreme court, which position he filled 
until the time of his death in 1817.  In appearance he was tall, 
portly, with handsome countenance, florid complexion and blue eyes.  He 
was the compiler of the early Pennsylvania reports which bear his name.
  George Stevenson, LL.D., was a prominent member of the bar in 1776.  
His name appears upon the records as early as 1770.  He was born in 
Dublin in 1718, educated at Trinity College, and emigrated to America 
about the middle of the century.  He was appointed deputy surveyor-
general under Nicholas Scull for the three lower counties on the 
Delaware, known as the "territories of Pennsylvania," which William 
Penn obtained from the Duke of York in 1682.  He afterward removed to 
York and was appointed a justice under George II in 1755.  [See 
commission, page 7.}  In 1769 he moved to Carlisle and became a leading 
member of the bar.  He died at this place in 1783.  Some of his 
correspondence may be seen in the Colonial Records, and the 
Pennsylvania Archives.  He married the widow of Thomas Cookson, a 
distinguished lawyer of Lancaster, who was instructed, in connection 
with Nicholas Scull, to lay out the town of Carlisle in 1751.

  *As a matter of curiosity we may mention:  number of speeches were 
Morris, 173; Wilson, 168; Madison, 161; Sherman 138; Mason, 136; 
Elbridge Gerry, 119.

147  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  Capt. John Steel was a prominent member of our bar in 1776.  He had 
been admitted, on motion of Col. Magaw, only three years previously, 
April term, 1773, and seems immediately to have come into a large 
practice.  We find him having a large practice again from 1782 to 1785, 
shortly after which date his name disappears from the records.  Capt. 
John Steel was the son of Rev. John Steel, known as the "fighting 
parson," and was born at Carlisle, July 15, 1744.  Parson Steel led a 
company of men from Carlisle and acted as a chaplain in the 
Revolutionary Army, while his son, John Steel, the subject of our 
sketch, led, as a captain, a company of men from the same place, and 
joined the army of Washington after he had crossed the Delaware.  He 
was the father of Amelia Steel, the mother of the late Robert Given, of 
Carlisle.  He married Agnes Moore, a sister of Mrs. Jane Thompson, who 
was the mother of Elizabeth Bennett, the maternal grandmother of the 
writer.  He died about 1812.
  Col. Thomas Hartley, who appeared as a practitioner at our bar in 
1776, was born in Berks County in 1748.  He received the rudiments of a 
classical education at Reading, when he went to York at the age of 
eighteen, and studied law under Samuel Johnston.  He commenced practice 
in 1769.  He appears as a practitioner at our bar from April 1771, to 
1797.  Col. Hartley became distinguished, both in the cabinet and the 
field.  In 1774 he was elected member of the Provincial Meeting of 
deputies, which met in Philadelphia in July of that year.  In the 
succeeding year he was a member of the Provincial Convention.  In the 
beginning of the war he became a colonel in the Revolution.  He served 
in 1778 in the Indian war on the west branch of the Susquehanna, and in 
the same year was elected a member of the legislature from York County.  
In 1783 he was a member of the council of censors.  In 1787 he was a 
member of the State Convention, which adopted the Federal Constitution.  
In 1788 he was elected to Congress and served for a period of twelve 
years.  In 1800 he was commissioned by Gov. McKean major-general of the 
Fifth Division of Pennsylvania Militia.  He was an excellent lawyer, a 
pleasant speaker, and had a large practice.  He died in York December 
21, 1800, aged fifty-two years.*
  These were some of the men who practiced at our bar in the memorable 
year 1776, men who by their services in the forum and the field helped 
to lay broad and deep the foundations of the government which we enjoy.

                                   II.

FROM THE REVOLUTION UNTIL THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION OF 1790.

  From the period of the Revolution, until the adoption of the 
constitution of 1790, the courts were presided over by the following 
justices:
  John Rannalls and associates, from 1776 to January, 1785; Samuel 
Laird and associates, from January, 1785, to January, 1786; Thomas 
Beals and associates, April, 1786; John Jordan and associates, from 
July, 1786, till October, 1791.
  Owing to the adoption of the Declaration, and the necessity of taking 
anew the oath, most of the attorneys were re-admitted in 1778.  Among 
these were Jasper Yeates, James Smith, James Wilson, Edward Burd and 
David Grier.  Thomas Hartley was re-admitted in July of the succeeding 
year.
  James Hamilton, who afterward became the fourth judge under the 
Consti-

  *Brief sketches of him will be found in Day's Historical Collections, 
and in "Otzinachson," p. 835-6.  Also in the Archived and Records. 

148  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

tuition was admitted to practice upon the motion of Col. Thomas Hartly 
in April, 1781.
  Among the names of those who practiced during this period between the 
Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution of 1790, are the 
following:
  Hon. Edward Shippen was admitted to our bar in October, 1778.  He was 
the son of Edward Shippen, Sr., the founder of Shippensburg, and was 
born February 16, 1729.  In 1748 he was sent to England to be educated 
at the Inns of Court.  In 1771 he was a member of the "Proprietary and 
Governors' Council."  He afterward rose rapidly and became chief 
justice of Pennsylvania.  He was the father of the wife of Gen. 
Benedict Arnold.  During the Revolution his sympathies were with 
England, but owing to the purity of his character and the impartiality 
with which he discharged his official duties, the new government 
restored him to the bench.  His name appears upon our records as late 
as 1800.
  James Hamilton was admitted in April, 1781.  He afterward became the 
fourth president judge of our judicial district.  He was an Irishman by 
birth, and was admitted to the bar in his native country, but 
immigrated to America before the Revolution, and first settled for a 
short time in Pittsburgh, then a small frontier settlement, but soon 
afterward removed to Carlisle, where he acquired a large practice.
  Hon. Thomas Duncan's name is found as a practitioner as early as 
1781;* The date of his admission to the bar is not known to us.  He was 
of Scotch ancestry, and a native of Carlisle.  He was educated, it is 
said, under Dr. Ramsey, the historian, and studied law in Lancaster, 
under Hon. Jasper Yeates, then one of the judges of the Supreme Court 
of Pennsylvania.  On his admission to the bar he returned to his native 
place and begun the practice of law; his rise was rapid, and in less 
than ten years from his admission he was the acknowledged leader of his 
profession in the midland counties of the State, and for nearly thirty 
years he continued to hold this eminent position.  He had, during this 
period, perhaps, the largest practice of any lawyer in Pennsylvania 
outside of Philadelphia.
  In 1817 he was appointed by Gov. Snyder to the bench of the supreme 
court, in place of Judge Yeates, deceased.  He shortly after removed to 
Philadelphia where he resided until his death, which occurred on the 
16th of November, 1827.
  During the ten years he sat upon the bench, associated with Tilghman 
and Gibson, he contributed largely to our stock of judicial opinions, 
and the reports contain abundant memorials of his industry and 
learning.  These opinions begin with the third volume of "Sergeant & 
Rawle," and end with the seventeenth volume of the same series.
  For years preceding the beginning of the present century and under 
five of the judges after the adoption of the first constitution, 
namely:  Smith, Riddle, Henry, Hamilton and Charles Smith, Thomas 
Duncan practiced at our bar.  As a lawyer he was distinguished by 
acuteness of discernment, promptness of decision, an accurate knowledge 
of character and a ready recourse to the rich stores of his own mind 
and memory.  He was an excellent land and criminal lawyer, "although," 
says one, "I think it could be shown by citations from his opinions 
that his taste inclined more strongly to special pleading than to real 
estate, and that his accuracy in that department was greater than in 
the law of the property."**

  *In Dr. Novin's "Men of Mark" it is stated that he was educated at 
Dickinson College, which is evidently an error, as that institution was 
not founded until two years later.
  **Porter, in speaking of Duncan, in his essay on Gibson.

149  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  He was enthusiastically devoted to his profession, "His habits of 
investigation," says Porter, in speaking of him as a judge, "were 
patient and systematic; his powers of discrimination cultivated by 
study and by intercourse with the acutest minds of his day; his style, 
both in speaking and writing, easy, natural, graceful and clear, and 
his acquirements quite equal to those of his predecessors on the 
bench."
  In appearance Mr. Duncan was about five feet six inches high, of 
small, delicate frame, rather reserved in manners, had rather a shrill 
voice, wore powder in his hair, knee breeches and buckles, and was neat 
in dress.
  Upon a small, unobtrusive-looking monument in the old grave-yard in 
Carlisle, is the following inscription:
  "Near this spot is deposited all that was mortal of Thomas Duncan, 
Esq., LL.D.; born at Carlisle, 20th of November, 1760; died 16th of 
November, 1827.  Called to the bar at an early age, he was rapidly 
borne by genius, perseverance and integrity to the pinnacle of his 
profession, and in the fullness of his fame was elevated to the bench 
of the supreme court of his native State, for which a sound judgment, 
boundless stores of legal science, and a profound reverence for the 
common law, had peculiarly fitted him.  Of his judicial labors the 
reported cases of the period are the best eulogy.  As a husband, 
indulgent; as a father, kind; as a friend, sincere; as a magistrate, 
incorruptible, and as a citizen, inestimable, he was honored by the 
wise and good, and wept by a large circle of relatives and friends.  
Honesta quam splendida."  A panegyric which leaves nothing to be said.
  Stephen Chambers, who appears upon the records of the court 
occasionally about 1783, although re-admitted later, was from 
Lancaster, and was a brother-in law of John Joseph Henry, who was 
afterward appointed president judge of our judicial district in 1800.
  James Armstrong Wilson, whose name appears occasionally after the 
Revolution as a practitioner at our bar, was the son of Thomas Wilson, 
who resided near Carlisle, and whom we have mentioned as a provincial 
justice.  He was educated at Princeton, where he graduated about 1771.  
He studied law with Richard Stockton, and was admitted to the bar at 
Easton.  He was a major in the Revolution.  The earliest mention of his 
name in the records of our court is about 1778.
  John Clark, who was from York, Penn., appears occasionally as a 
practitioner about 1784.  He was a major in the Revolution, of large 
frame, fine personal appearance, witty, so that his society was much 
courted by many of the lawyers who rode the circuit with him in those 
days.
  Ross Thompson, who had practiced in other courts, was admitted to our 
bar in 1784.  He lived some time in Chambersburg, but removed to 
Carlisle, where he died at an early age.
  John Wilkes Kittera, admitted in 1783, was from Philadelphia, but 
settled in Lancaster.  He was admitted to the first term of court two 
years later, May, 1785, in Dauphin County.
  Gen. John Andrew Hanna (1785), settled in Harrisburg at about the 
time of the organization of Dauphin County.  He is noticed favorably in 
the narrative of the Duke de Rochefoucault, who visited the State 
capital in 1795.  He says that Gen. Hanna was then "about thirty-six or 
thirty-eight years of age, and was brigadier-general of militia."  He 
was a brother-in-law of Robert Harris, the father of George W. Harris, 
the compiler of the Pennsylvania Reports, and was an executor of the 
will of John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg.  He was elected to 
Congress from his district in 1797, and served till 1805, in which year 
he died.

150  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  Ralph Bowie, from York, was admitted to our bar at October term, 
1785, and practiced considerably in our courts from 1798 till after 
1800.  He was a Scotchman by birth and had probably been admitted to 
the bar in his native country.  He was a well-read lawyer and much 
sought after in important cases of ejectment.  He was of fine personal 
appearance, courtly and dignified in manner, and neat and particular in 
dress.  He powdered his hair, wore short clothes in the fashion of the 
day, and had social qualities of the most attractive character.
  Of James Riddle, Charles Smith, John Joseph Henry and Thomas Smith, 
all of whom became judges, we will speak later.
  Thomas Creigh, who was admitted in 1790, was the son of Hon. John 
Creigh, who emigrated from Ireland and settled in Carlisle in 1761.  
John Creigh was an early justice, and one of the nine representatives 
who signed the first Declaration, June 24, 1776, for the colony of 
Pennsylvania.  Thomas Creigh was born in Carlisle August 16, 1769.  He 
graduated in the second class which left Dickinson College in 1788.  He 
probably studied law under Thomas Duncan, upon whose motion he was 
admitted.  He died in Carlisle October, 1809.  One sister, Isabel, 
married Samuel Alexander, Esq., of Carlisle; Mary married Hon. John 
Kennedy, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth, Samuel 
Duncan, Esq., of Carlisle.
  David Watts (1790), a son of Frederick Watts, who was a member of the 
early Provincial Council, was born in Cumberland County October 29, 
1764.  He graduated in the first class which left the then 
unpretentious halls of Dickinson College in 1787.  He afterward read 
law in Philadelphia under the eminent jurist and advocate, William 
Lewis, LL.D., and was admitted to our bar in October, 1790.  He soon 
acquired an immense practice, and became the acknowledged rival of 
Thomas Duncan, who had been for years the recognized leader on this 
circuit.  He died September 25, 1819.
  We have now given a brief sketch of our bar, from the earliest times 
down to the adoption of the constitution of 1790, when, in the 
following year, Thomas Smith, the first president judge of our judicial 
district, appears upon the bench.

                                  III.

                         CONSTITUTIONAL PERIOD.

  From the adoption of this first constitution until the present, the 
judges who have presided over our courts are as follows:

                                 JUDGES. 

  Thomas Smith, 1791; James Riddle, 1794; John Joseph Henry, 1800; 
James Hamilton, 1806; Charles Smith, 1819; John Reed, 1820; Samuel 
Hepburn, 1838; Frederick Watts, 1848; James H. Graham, 1851; Benjamin 
F. Junkin, 1871; Martin C. Herman, 1875; Wilbur F. Sadler, 1885.
  Hon. Thomas Smith first appeared upon the bench in the October term, 
1791.  He resided at Carlisle.  He had been a deputy surveyor under the 
government in early life, and thus became well acquainted with the land 
system in Pennsylvania, then in process of formation.  He was accounted 
a good common law lawyer and did a considerable business.  He was 
commissioned president judge by Gov. Mifflin on the 20th of August, 
1791.  He continued in that position until his appointment as an 
associate judge of the supreme court, on the 31st of January, 1794.  He 
was a small man, rather reserved in his manner, and of not very social 
proclivities.  He died at an advanced age in the year 1809.

151  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  Owing to the necessity of being resworn, according to the provisions 
of the new constitution, the following attorneys "having taken the oath 
prescribed by law," were readmitted at this term of court:  James 
Riddle, Andrew Dunlap, of Franklin; Thomas Hartley, of York; David 
Watts, Thomas Nesbitt, Ralph Bowie, Thomas Duncan, Thomas Creigh, 
Robert Duncan, James Hamilton and others.
  Hon. James Riddle first appears upon the bench at the April term, 
1794.  He was born in Adams County, graduated with distinction at 
Princeton College, and subsequently read law at York.  He was about 
thirty years of age when he was admitted to the bar.  He had a large 
practice until his appointment as president judge of this judicial 
district, by Gov. Mifflin, in February, 179_.  His legal abilities were 
very respectable, though he was not considered a great lawyer.  He was 
well read in science, literature and the law; was a good advocate and 
very successful with the jury.  He was a tall man, broad shouldered and 
lusty, with a noble face and profile and pleasing manner.  Some time in 
1804 he resigned his position of judge, because of the strong partisan 
feeling existing against him - he being an ardent Federalist - and 
returned to the practice of the law.  He died in Chambersburg about 
1837.
  Hon. John Joseph Henry, of Lancaster, was born about the year 1758.  
He was the third president judge of our judicial district and the 
predecessor of Judge Hamilton.  He was appointed in 1800.  He had 
previously been the first president judge of Dauphin County in 1793.  
In 1775 young Henry, then a lad of about seventeen or eighteen years of 
age, entered the Revolutionary Army and joined the expedition against 
Quebec.  He was in the company under Capt. Matthew Smith, of Lancaster.  
The whole command, amounting to about 1,000 men, was under the command 
of Gen. Benedict Arnold.  Young Henry fought at the battle of Quebec 
and was taken prisoner.  He subsequently published an account of the 
expedition.  Judge Henry was a large man, probably over six feet in 
height.  He died in Lancaster in 1810.

                            THE BAR IN 1800.  

  And now we have arrived at the dawn of a new century.  Judge Henry 
was upon the bench.  Watts and Duncan were unquestionably the leading 
lawyers.  They were engaged in probably more than one-half the cases 
which were tried, and always on opposite sides.  Hamilton came next, 
six years later, to be upon the bench.  There also were Charles Smith, 
who was to succeed Hamilton; Bowie, of York, and Shippen, of Lancaster, 
with their queues and continental dress, and the Duncan brothers, James 
and Samuel, and Thomas Creigh, all of them engaged in active practice 
at our bar at the beginning of the century.  At this time the lawyers 
still traveled upon the circuit, and circuit courts were held also as 
will be seen by the following entry:  "Circuit Court held at Carlisle 
for the County of Cumberland this 4th day of May, 1801, before the Hon. 
Jasper Yeates, and Hon. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, justices of the 
Supreme Court."
  Among the prominent attorneys admitted to the bar during the time 
Judge Henry was upon the bench, were John Bannister Gibson, afterward 
chief justice of Pennsylvania, George Metzgar and Andrew Carothers.  
Gibson was admitted in March, 1803.
  On the motion of Thomas Duncan, Esq., and the usual certificates 
filed stating that Alexander P. Lyon, John B. M. S. Gibson and James 
Carothers had studied law under his direction for the space of two 
years after they had respectively arrived at the age of twenty-one.  
Com. Ralph Bowie, Charles Smith and William Brown. 

152  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  George Metzgar was born in 1782, and graduated at Dickinson College 
in 1798.  He studied law with David Watts after he had arrived at the 
age of twenty-one, and was admitted in March, 1805.  Afterward he 
served as prosecuting attorney, and was a member of the Legislature in 
1813-14, and held a respectable position at the bar.  He died in 
Carlisle June 10, 1879.  He was the founder of the Metzgar Female 
Institute in Carlisle.
  Andrew Carothers was born in Silver Spring, Cumberland County, about 
1778.  He learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, but when about nineteen 
years of age his father's family was poisoned, and Andrew, who 
survived, was crippled by its effects in his hands and limbs to such an 
extent that he was incapacitated for the trade which he had chosen.  He 
had received but the education of the country school, and it was not 
until he had become unfitted for an occupation which required bodily 
labor, that he turned his attention to the law.  He entered the office 
of David Watts, in Carlisle, and after three years' study, was admitted 
to the bar December, 1805.  In the language of Judge Watts "He became 
an excellent practical and learned lawyer, and very soon took a high 
place at the bar of Cumberland County, which at that time ranked 
amongst its numbers some of the best lawyers of the State, Watts, 
Duncan, Alexander and Mahan were at different times his competitors, 
and amongst these he acquired a large and lucrative practice, which 
continued through his whole life.  Mr. Carothers was remarkable for his 
amiability of temper, his purity of character, his unlimited 
disposition of charity and his love of justice."
  On all public occasions and in courts of justice his addresses were 
delivered, by reason of his bodily infirmity, in a sitting posture.  He 
was active in promoting the general interests of the community, and was 
for years one of the trustees of Dickinson College.  He died July 26, 
1836, aged fifty-eight years.

                         THE BAR UNDER HAMILTON.

  Of James Hamilton, who appears upon the bench in 1806, we have before 
spoken.  Watts and Duncan were still leaders of the bar under Judge 
Hamilton.  Mr. Watts came to the bar some years later than Thomas 
Duncan, but both were admitted and the latter had practiced under the 
judges prior to the constitution; but from that time, 1790, both 
practiced, generally as opponents, and were leaders at the bar under 
the first five judges who presided after the constitution, until the 
appointment of Duncan to the supreme bench in 1817.  David Watts died 
two years later.
  Judge Hamilton was a student, but lacked self-confidence, and was 
more inclined, it is said, to take what he was told ruled the case than 
to trust to his own judgment, and there is a legend to the effect that 
a certain act, which can be found in the pamphlet laws of Pennsylvania, 
1810, p. 136, forbidding the reading of English precedents subsequent 
to 1776, was passed at his instance to get rid of the multitudinous 
authorities with which Mr. Duncan was wont to confuse his judgment.
  Mr. Watts was an impassioned, forcible and fluent speaker.  He was a 
strong, powerful man.  Mr. Duncan was a small and delicate looking man.  
The voice of Mr. Watts was strong and rather rough, that of Mr. Duncan 
was weak and sometimes shrill in pleading.  In Mr. Brackenridge's 
"Recollections," he speaks of attending the courts in Carlisle, in 
about 1807, where there were two very able lawyers, Messrs. Watts and 
Duncan.  "The former," he says, "was possessed of a powerful mind and 
was the most vehement speaker I ever heard.  He seized his subject with 
a Herculean grasp, at the same time throwing his Herculean body and 
limbs into attitudes which would have de-

153  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Portrait of C. B. Niesley

154  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Blank Page

155  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

lighted a painter or a sculptor.  He was a singular instance of the 
union of great strength of mind with bodily powers equally wonderful.
  "Mr. Duncan was one of the best lawyers and advocates I have ever 
seen at a bar, and he was, perhaps, the best judge that ever sat on the 
supreme bench of the State.  He was a very small man, with a large but 
well-formed head.  There never was a lover more devoted to his mistress 
than Mr. Duncan was to the study of law.  He perused Coke upon 
Littleton as a recreation, and read more books of reports than a young 
lady reads new novels.  His education had not been very good, ad his 
general reading was not remarkable.  I was informed that he read 
frequently the plays of Shakespeare, and from that source derived that 
uncommon richness and variety of diction by which he was enabled to 
embellish the most abstruse subjects, although his language was 
occasionally marked by inaccuracies, even violation of common grammar 
rules.  Mr. Duncan reasoned with admirable clearness and method on all 
legal subjects, and at the same time displayed great knowledge of human 
nature in examination of witnesses and in his addresses to the jury.  
Mr. Watts selected merely the strong points of his case, and labored 
them with an earnestness and zeal approaching to fury; and perhaps his 
forcible manner sometimes produced a more certain effect than 'that of 
the subtle and wiley advocate opposed to him."
  Among the attorneys admitted under Hamilton was Isaac Brown Parker, 
March, 1806 on motion of Charles Smith, Esq.  Mr. Parker had read law 
under James Hamilton, just previous to the time of his appointment to 
the bench.  His committee was Ralph Bowie, Charles Smith and James 
Duncan, Esqrs.  Alexander Mahan, graduated at Dickinson College in 
1805; August, 1808, read under Thomas Duncan; committee David Watts, 
John B. Gibson and Andrew Carothers, Esqrs. . . .William Ramsey same 
date, instructor and committee.
  In 1809 William Ramsey, Democrat, ran for sheriff of Cumberland 
County.  The opposing candidate was John Carothers, Federalist.  At 
this time, under the old constitution the governor appointed one of the 
two having the highest number of votes.  Ramsey had the highest number 
of votes but Carothers was appointed.  Gov. Snyder afterward appointed 
William Ramsey prothonotary, which office he held for many years.  He 
had great influence in the Democratic party.  About 1817 he began to 
practice his profession and acquired a very large practice.  He died in 
1831.
  James Hamilton, Jr., was the son of Judge Hamilton.  He was born in 
Carlisle, October 16, 1793.  He graduated at Dickinson College in 1812.  
He read law with Isaac B. Parker, who was an uncle by marriage, and was 
admitted to the bar while his father was upon the bench in April, 1816.  
He was, from 1824 to 1833, a trustee of Dickinson College.  For several 
years Mr. Hamilton followed his profession, but being in affluent 
circumstances he gradually retired from active practice.  He died in 
Carlisle June 23, 1873.
  John Williamson, was for many years a member of our bar.  He was the 
brother-in-law of Hon. Samuel Hepburn, with whom he was for a long time 
associated.  He was born in Mifflin Township, Cumberland County, 
September 14, 1789, and graduated at Dickinson College, Carlisle, in 
1809.  He was admitted to our bar at the August term, 1811.  He 
previously read law with Luther Martin, of Baltimore, Md., who was one 
of the counsel for Aaron Burr, in his trial for high treason, at 
Richmond, Va.  Luther Martin, the "Federal Bull-dog," as he was called, 
was a character altogether sui generis, with an unlimited capacity both 
for legal lore and liquor.  In the former respect only his pupil 
somewhat (although in a less degree) resembled his preceptor.  Mr. 
Williamson seems to have been exceedingly well versed in law, with an 
intimate

156  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

knowledge of all the cases and distinctions, but the very depth or 
extensiveness of his learning seemed at times to confuse his judgment.  
He saw the case in every possible aspect in which it could be 
presented; but then which particular phase should, in the wise 
dispensation of an all-ruling Province, happen to be the law, as 
afterward determined by the court, was a question often too difficult 
to decide.  His aid as a counselor was valuable, and as such he was 
frequently employed.  He died in Philadelphia, September 10, 1870.
  John Duncan Mahan was admitted under Hamilton in April, 1817.  He was 
born November 5, 1796; graduated at Dickinson College in 1814, and 
immediately began the study of law under the instruction of his uncle, 
Thomas Duncan.  He became a leader of the bar of Carlisle at a 
brilliant period, until in 1833, when he removed to Pittsburgh and 
became a prominent member of the bar of that city, where he resided 
until his death July 3, 1861.  When Mr. Mahan was admitted to the bar 
Watts and Duncan were at the zenith of their fame, and were retained in 
all great cases within the circuit of their practice.  But this was 
near the end of their career, as competitors, for at that very time 
Duncan was appointed to the supreme bench, which he adorned during his 
life, and Watts died two years later.  Judge Duncan transferred his 
whole practice to his then young student and nephew, John D. Mahan and 
his eminent success justified his preceptor's confidence.  His first 
step was into the front rank of the profession.
  Mr. Mahan was a man of rare endowments.  What many learned by study 
and painful investigation he seemed to grasp intuitively.  He had the 
gift, the power and the grace of the orator, and in addressing the 
passions, the sympathies, or the peculiarities of men he seldom made 
mistakes.  "His every gesture," it has been said of him, "was graceful, 
his style of eloquence was the proper word in the proper place for the 
occasion, and his voice was music."  He was affable in temper, 
brilliant in conversation and was among the leaders of our bar, under 
Hamilton, Smith and Reed, at a time when it had strong men, by whom his 
strength was tested and his talents tried.
  A writer speaking from his recollections of the bar at about this 
period, says:  "John D. Mahan was its bright, particular star; young, 
graceful, eloquent, and with a jury irresistible.  Equal to him in 
general ability, and superior, perhaps, in legal acumen, was his 
contemporary and rival, Samuel Alexander.  Then there was the vehement 
Andrew Carothers and young Frederick Watts, just admitted in tie to 
reap the advantages of his father's reputation and create an enduring 
one of his own.  And George Metzgar, with his treble voice and hand on 
his side, amusing the court and spectators with his not overly delicate 
facetioe.  And there was "Billy Ramsey with his queue," a man of many 
clients, and the sine qua non of the Democratic party.
  Hon. Charles Smith was appointed to succeed Hamilton as the fifth 
president judge of our judicial district, in the year 1819.  Mr. 
Charles Smith was born at Philadelphia, March 4, 1765.  He received his 
degree B. A. at the first commencement of Washington College, 
Charleston, Md., March 14, 1783.  His father, William Smith, D. D., was 
the founder, and at that time the provost of that institution.  Charles 
Smith commenced the study of the law with his elder brother, William 
Moore Smith, who then resided at Easton, Penn.  After his admission to 
the bar he opened his office in Sunbury, Northumberland County, where 
his industry and rising talents soon procured for him a large practice.  
He was elected delegate, with his colleague, Simon Snyder, to the 
convention which framed the first constitution for the State of 
Pennsylvania, and was looked on as a very distinguished member of that 
talented body of men.  Although differing in the politics of that day 
from his 

157  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

colleague, yet Mr. Snyder for more than thirty years afterward remained 
the firm friend of Mr. Smith, and when the former became the governor 
of the State for three successive terms it is well known that Mr. Smith 
was his confidential adviser in many important matters.  Mr. Smith was 
married in 1719 to a daughter of Jasper Yeates, one of the supreme 
court judges of the State, and soon removed from Sunbury to Lancaster, 
where Judge Yeates resided.  Under the old circuit court system it was 
customary for most of the distinguished country lawyers to travel over 
the northern and western parts of the State with the judges, and hence 
Mr. Smith, in pursuing this practice, soon became associated with such 
eminent men as Thomas Duncan, David Watts, Charles Hall, John Woods, 
James Hamilton, and a host of luminaries of the middle bar.  The 
settlement of land titles, at that period, became of vast importance to 
the people of the State, and the foundation of the law with regard to 
settlements rights, the rights of warrantees, the doctrine of surveys, 
and the proper construction of lines and corners, had to be laid.  In 
the trial of ejectment cases the learning of the bar was best 
displayed, and Mr. Smith was soon looked on as an eminent land lawyer.  
In after years, when called on to revise the old publications of the 
laws of the State, and under the authority of the Legislature to frame 
a new compilation of the same (generally known as Smith's Laws of 
Pennsylvania) he gave to the public the result of his knowledge and 
experience on the subject of land law, in the very copious note on that 
subject, which may well be termed a treatise on the land laws of 
Pennsylvania.  In the same work his note on the criminal law of the 
State is elaborate and instructive.  Mr. Smith was, in 1819, appointed 
president judge of the district, comprising the counties of Cumberland 
and Franklin, where his official learning and judgment, and his 
habitual industry, rendered him a useful and highly popular judge. 
  On the erection of the District Court of Lancaster he became the 
first presiding judge, which office he held for several years.  He 
finally removed to Philadelphia, where he spent the last years of his 
life, and died in that city in 1840, in the seventy-fifth year of his 
age.
  Hon. John Reed, LL.D., appeared upon the bench in 1820.  Judge Reed 
was born in what was then York, now Adams County, in 1786.  He was the 
son of Gen. William Reed, of Revolutionary fame.  He read law under 
William Maxwell, of Gettysburg.  In 1809 he was admitted to the bar and 
commenced the practice of law in Westmoreland County.  In the two last 
years of his professional career he performed the duties of deputy 
attorney-general.  In 1815 Mr. Reed was elected to the State Senate, 
and on the 10th of July 1820, he was commissioned by Gov. Finley 
president judge of the Ninth Judicial District, then composed of the 
counties of Cumberland, Adams and Perry.  When, in 1839, by a change in 
the constitution, his commission expired, he resumed his practice at 
the bar, and continued it until his death which occurred in Carlisle, 
on the 19th of January, 1850, when he was in the sixty-fourth year of 
his age.  In 1839 the decree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by 
Washington College, Pennsylvania.  In 1833 the new board of trustees 
elected professor of that department.  The instructions consisted of 
lectures, and of a moot court of law, where legal questions were 
discussed, cases tried, and where the pleadings were drawn up in full - 
- Reed being the supreme court.  After a full course of study, this 
department conferred the decree of LL.B.  Many were admitted to the bar 
during this period, most of whom practiced elsewhere, and many of whom 
afterward became eminent in their profession.

158  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

                        THE BAR UNDER JUDGE REED.

  At this period, and later, the bar was particularly strong.  Of the 
old veterans, David Watts was dead, and Duncan was upon the supreme 
bench.  But among the practitioners of the time were such men as 
Carothers, Alexander, Mahan, Ramsey, Williamson, Metzgar, Lyon, William 
Irvine, William H. Brackenridge and Isaac Brown Parker; while among 
those admitted, and who were afterward to attain eminence on the bench 
or at the bar, were such men as Charles B. Penrose, Hugh Gaullagher, 
Frederick Watts, William M. Biddle, James H. Graham, Samuel Hepburn, 
William Sterritt, Ramsey, S. Dunlap Adair and John Brown Parker - a 
galaxy of names such as has not since been equaled.
  Gen. Samuel Alexander was practicing at our bar in 1820, when Judge 
Reed took the bench.  He was the youngest son of col. John Alexander, a 
Revolutionary officer, and was born in Carlisle September 20, 1792.  He 
graduated at Dickinson College in 1812, after which he read law in 
Greensburg with his brother, Maj. John B. Alexander, and became a 
prominent lawyer in that part of the State.  He afterward returned to 
Carlisle, and by the advice of Judge Duncan and David Watts was induced 
to become a member of our bar, at which he soon acquired a prominent 
position.  In 1820 he married a daughter of Col. Ephraim Blaine, but 
left no sons to perpetuate his name.
  As an advocate Mr. Alexander had but few, if any, superiors at the 
bar.  In the early part of his career he was a diligent student and was 
in the habit of carefully digesting most of the reported cases.  In 
addition to this he was possessed of a tenacious memory and seemed 
never to forget a case he had once read.  He was always fully 
identified with the cause of his client, and possessed that thorough 
onesidedness so necessary to the successful advocate.
  He possessed also great tact and an intuitive quickness of 
perception.  In the management of a case he was apt, watchful and 
ingenious.  If driven from one position, like a skillful general he was 
always quick to seize another.  In this respect his talents, it is 
said, only brightened amid difficulties, and shone forth only the more 
resplendent as the battle became more hopeless.  Nor was oratory, the 
crowning grace and the most necessary accomplishment of the advocate, 
wanting.  He was a forcible speaker, with a large command of language, 
and with the happy faculty of nearly always finding the right word for 
the right place.  His diction was choice, and in his matter, although 
sometimes diffusive, in his manner he was always bold, vigorous and 
aggressive.  He had the power of sarcasm, was often ironical, and was a 
master in personal invective.  In this he had no equal at the bar.  In 
the examination of witnesses, also, he had no superior.
  Mr. Alexander had a natural inclination for mechanics, and was 
passionately fond of anything pertaining to military life.  He was for 
years at the head of a volunteer regiment of the county.  He cared for 
this, strange as it may, appear, more than for his profession, which, 
toward the close of his life, seems to have become distasteful to him; 
at least with his abilities unimpaired, he appeared but seldom in the 
trial of a cause.  He died in Carlisle in July, 1845, aged fifty-two.
  Hugh Gaullagher, a practitioner at the bar under Reed, studied law 
with Hon. Richard Coulter of Greensburg, and shortly after his 
admission commenced the practice of law in Carlisle.  This was about 
1824, from which time he continued to practice until about the middle 
of the century.
  He was eccentric, long limbed, awkward in his gait, and in his 
delivery with an Irish brogue, but he was well-read, particularly in 
history and in the elements of his profession.  He was an affable man, 
an instructive companion, fond of conversation, with inherent humor and 
a love of fun, and was popular

159  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
 
in the circle of his friends, of whom he had many.  He was among the 
number of the old lawyers of our bar who were fond of a dinner and a 
song, however gravely they appear upon the page of history.
  At the bar his position was more that of a counselor than of an 
advocate.  He was fond of the old cases and would rather read an 
opinion of my Lord Mansfield, or Hale, or Coke, than the latest 
delivered by our own judges, "not that he disregarded the latter, but 
because he reverenced the former."
  He is well remembered, often in connection with anecdotes, and is as 
frequently spoken of by survivors as any man who practiced at our bar 
so long ago.  He died April 14, 1856.
  Hon. Charles B. Penrose was born near Philadelphia October 6, 1798.  
He read law with Samuel Ewing, Esq., in Philadelphia, and immediately 
moved to Carlisle.  He soon acquired a prominent position at the bar.  
He was elected to the State Senate in 1833, and at the expiration of 
his term was re-elected.  In this capacity he achieved distinction even 
among the men of ability who were then chosen for this office.  In 1841 
he was appointed by President Harrison, solicitor of the treasury, 
which position he held until the close of President Tyler's 
administration.  After practicing in Carlisle he moved first to 
Lancaster, then to Philadelphia, in both places successfully pursuing 
his profession.  In 1856 he was again elected as a reform candidate to 
the State Senate, during which term he died of pneumonia at Harrisburg, 
April 6, 1857.
  William M. Biddle was admitted under Reed in 1826.  He was born in 
Philadelphia July 3, 1801, and died of heart disease in that city, 
where he had gone to place himself under the care of physicians, on the 
28th of February, 1855.  He was the great-great-grandson of Nicholas 
Scull, surveyor-general of Pennsylvania from 1748 to 1761, who, by 
direction of Gov. Hamilton, laid out the borough of Carlisle in 1751.  
Mr. Biddle was originally destined for mercantile pursuits, but the 
death of his cousin, Henry Sergeant, an East India trader, who had 
promised him a partnership in business, put an end to these plans and 
his attention was turned to the law.  He went to Reading, Penn., and 
studied with his brother-in-law, Samuel Baird, Esq.  In 1826, shortly 
after his admission to the bar, he moved to Carlisle, induced to do so 
by the advice of his brother-in-law, Charles B. Penrose, Esq., who had 
recently opened a law office there, and was then rising into a good 
practice.  Located in Carlisle he soon acquired a large business and 
soon took a high position at the bar, which he retained to the day of 
his death, a period of twenty-nine years.
  Mr. Biddle was an able lawyer and had a keen perception of the 
principles of law, which, when understood, reduce it to a science.  He 
was endowed with a large fund of wit, in addition to which he was also 
an excellent mimic, and often indulged in these powers in his addresses 
to the jury.  He was rather a large man, of fine personal presence, 
great affability, endowed with quick wit and high moral and 
intellectual qualities which made him a leader at the bar at a time 
when many brilliant men were among its members. 
  Gen. Edward M. Biddle was born in Philadelphia; graduated at 
Princeton College, and then removed to Carlisle, where he studied law 
under his brother-in-law, Hon. Chas. B. Penrose, and in 1830 was 
admitted to practice in the several courts of Cumberland County.
  Hon. Charles McClure was admitted to the bar under Reed in August, 
1826.  He was born in Carlisle, graduated at Dickinson College, and 
afterward became a member of Congress, and still later, 1843-45, 
secretary of state of Pennsylvania.  He was a son-in-law of Chief 
Justice Gibson.  He did not practice extensively at the bar.  He 
removed to Pittsburgh, where he died in 1846.

160  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

  Hon. William Sterritt Ramsey, one of the most promising members of 
the bar admitted under Reed, was born in Carlisle June 16, 1810.  He 
entered Dickinson College in the autumn of 1826, where he remained 
three years.  In the summer of 1829 he was sent to Europe to complete 
his education and to restore, by active travel and change of scene, 
health to an already debilitated constitution.  The same year he was 
appointed (by our minister to the court of St. James, Hon. Lewis 
McClane) an attache to the American Legation.  He pursued his legal 
studies, visited the courts of Westminister, and the author of Waverly 
at Abbottsford, to whom he bore letters from Washington Irving.  After 
the Revolution of three days in July, 1830, he was sent with dispatches 
to France, and spent much of his time, while there, at the hotel of 
Gen. Lafayette.  In 1831 he returned to America and began the study of 
law under his father.  In the month of September of this year his 
father died.  He continued to study under Andrew Carothers, and in 1833 
was admitted to the bar of Cumberland County.
  In 1838 he was elected a member of Congress by the Democratic party, 
and at the expiration of his term was re-elected.  He as at this time 
the youngest member of Congress in the House.  He died, before being 
qualified a second time, by his own hand in Barnum's Hotel, Baltimore, 
October 22, 1840, aged only thirty years.  An eloquent obituary notice 
was written on the occasion of his death by his friend, Hon. James 
Buchanan, afterward president of the United States, from which some of 
the above facts are taken.
  S. Dunlap Adair was admitted under Reed in January, 1835.  For 
fifteen years he was a practitioner at the bar.  He was born March 26, 
1810.  While a youth he attended the classical school of Joseph Casey, 
Sr., the father of Hon. Joseph Casey, in Newville, and was among the 
brightest of his pupils.  He was apt in acquiring knowledge and 
particularly in the facility of acquiring languages.  He became a good 
Latin scholar, and, after his admission to the bar, made himself 
acquainted with the German, French and Italian languages.  He was well 
read in English literature, and although not a graduate of any college, 
his attainments were as varied as those of any member of the bar.  He 
studied law under Hon. Frederick Watts, and soon after his admission 
was appointed deputy attorney-general for the county.  He was a 
candidate of his party in the district for Congress when William 
Ramsey, the younger, was elected.  He had a chaste, clear style, and 
was a pleasant speaker.  In stature he was below the medium height, 
delicately formed, near-sighted, and whether sitting or standing had a 
tendency to lean forward.  He was of sanguine temperament, had auburn 
hair and a high forehead.  He died of bronchial consumption in 
Carlisle, September 23, 1850.
  John Brown Parker, Esq., was born in Carlisle October 5, 1816.  He 
graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in 1834.  
He read law with Hon. Frederick Watts for the period of one year, 
completing his course of study in the law school under Judge Reed, and 
was admitted to practice in April, 1838.  He was for a time associated 
with his preceptor, Hon. Frederick Watts.  He retired from practice in 
1865, and moved to Philadelphia, where he resided for some years.
  Capt. William M. Porter was born in Carlisle, this county, in 1808; 
read law under Samuel A. McCoskry, and was admitted to the Carlisle bar 
in 1835.  He died in 1873.
  In 1827 John Bannister Gibson, LL.D., was appointed chief justice of 
Pennsylvania.
  He was born on the 8th of November, 1780, in Sherman's Valley, then 
Cumberland, now Perry County, Pennsylvania.  He was of Scotch-Irish de-

161  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

scent, and the son of Col. George Gibson, who was killed at the defeat 
of St. Clair in 1791.  In 1795 young Gibson studied in the preparatory 
school connected with Dickinson College, and subsequently in the 
collegiate department, when that institution was under Dr. Nesbitt, 
graduating at the age of eighteen, in the class of 1798.
  During this period he was in the habit of frequenting the office of 
Dr. McCoskry - one of the oldest practitioners of medicine in the place 
- and there acquired a taste for the study of physic, which he never 
lost.
  On the completion of his collegiate course, he entered on the study 
of law in Carlisle in the office of his kinsman, Thomas Duncan, with 
whom he was afterward to occupy a seat on the bench of the supreme 
court.  He was admitted to the bar of Cumberland County in March, 1803.
  He first opened his office in Carlisle, then removed to Beaver, then 
to Hagerstown, but shortly afterward returned to Carlisle.  This was in 
1805, and at this point is the beginning of a remarkable career.
  From 1805 to 1812 Mr. Gibson seems to have had a reasonable share of 
the legal practice in Cumberland County, particularly when we consider 
that the field was occupied by such men as Duncan, Watts, Bowie of 
York, and Smith of Lancaster, who, at the time of which we speak, had 
but few equals in the State.  Nevertheless it may well be doubted 
whether his qualifications were of such a character as would ever have 
fitted him to attain high eminence at the bar.  His reputation, at this 
period, was not that of diligence in his profession, and it is quite 
probable that, at this time, he had no great liking for it.  In fact, 
at this period, of his life Mr. Gibson seems to have been known rather 
as a fine musical connoisseur and art critic than as a successful 
lawyer.  He was a good draughtsman, a judge of fine paintings, and a 
votary of the violin.
  In 1810 Mr. Gibson was elected by the Democratic party of Cumberland 
County to the House of Representatives, and after the expiration of his 
term, in 1812, he was appointed president judge of the court of common 
pleas for the Eleventh Judicial District, composed of the counties of 
Tioga, Bradford, Susquehanna and Luzerne.
  Justice Gibson's personal appearance at this time is within the 
recollection of men who are still living.  He was a man of large 
proportions, a giant both in physique and intellect.  He was 
considerably over six feet in height, with a muscular, well-
proportioned frame, indicative of strength and energy, and a 
countenance expressing strong character and manly beauty.
  "His face," says David Paul Brown, "was full of intellect and 
benevolence, and, of course, eminently handsome; his manners were 
remarkable for their simplicity, warmth, frankness and generosity.  
There never was a man more free from affectation or pretension of every 
sort."
  Until the day of his death, says Porter, "although his bearing was 
mild and unostentatious, so striking was his personal appearance that 
few persons to whom he was unknown could have passed him by in the 
street without remark."
  Upon the death of Judge Brackenridge in 1816, Judge Gibson was 
appointed by Gov. Snyder Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, where, 
as it has been said, if Tilghman was the Nestor, Gibson became the 
Ulysses of the bench.
  This appointment of Gibson to the bench of the supreme court seems 
first to have awakened his intellect and stimulated his ambition.  He 
partly withdrew himself from his former associates, and was thus 
delivered from numerous temptations to indolence and dissipation.  He 
became more devoted to study, and for the first time perhaps in his 
life he seems to have formed a 

162  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

resolution to make himself master of the law as a science.  Coke 
particularly seems to have been his favorite author, and his quaint, 
forcible and condensed style, together with the severity of his logic 
seem to have had no small influence in the development of Gibson's 
mind, and in implanting there the seeds of that love for the English 
common law, which was afterward everywhere so conspicuous in his 
writings.
  It is pertinent here to remark that Judge Gibson, like Coke and 
Blackstone, seems never to have had any fondness for the civil law.  
Whether this was on account of the purely Anglo-Saxon of his mind, or 
on account of a want of opportunity in the means through which to 
become thoroughly acquainted with the most beautiful and symmetrical 
system of law which the world has ever known, we can not say, but 
certain it is that he seems to have cast ever and anon a suspicious 
glance at the efforts of a judge story, and writers of that school to 
infuse its principles in a still greater degree into our common law.  
We need but refer to the opinions delivered in Dyle vs. Richards, 9 
Sergeant and Rawle, 322, and Logan vs. Mason, 6 Watts and Sergeant 9, 
in proof of the existence of these views in the mind of their author.
  In an old number of the "American Law Register" there is a review of 
Mr. Troubat's work on limited partnership by Gibson.  It was the last 
essay he ever wrote, and in it he says:  "the writer of this article is 
not a champion of the civil law; nor does he profess to have more than 
a superficial knowledge of it.  He was bred in the school of Littleton 
and Coke, and he would be sorry to see any but common law doctrines 
taught in it."  But here Gibson is speaking of the English law of real 
property, and he afterward says "The English law merchant, an 
imperishable monument to Lord Mansfield's fame, shows what a 
magnificent structure may be raised upon it where the ground is not 
preoccupied."
  Hitherto the bench of the supreme court had consisted of but three 
judges, but under the act of April 8, 1826, the number was increased to 
five.  But little more than one year elapsed before the death of Chief 
Justice Tilghman.  Gibson was his successor.  He received his 
commission on the 18th of May, 1827, and from this time forward the 
gradual and uniform progress of his mind, says Col. Porter, "may be 
traced in his opinions with a certainty and satisfaction which are 
perhaps not offered in the case of any other judge known to our annals.  
His original style, compared to that in which he now began to write, 
was like the sinews of a growing lad compared to the well-knit muscles 
of a man.  No one who has carefully studied his opinions can have 
failed to remark the increased power and pith which distinguished them 
from this time forward."  In the language of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens "he 
lived to an advanced age, his knowledge increasing with increasing 
years, while his great intellect remained unimpaired."
  From 1827 he remained as the chief upon the bench, until 1851, when 
by a change in the constitution the judiciary became elective, and was 
elected the same year as associate justice of the court, being the only 
one of the former incumbents returned.  But although "nominally 
superseded by another as the head of the court, his great learning, 
venerable character and over shadowing reputation still made him," in 
the language of his successor, Judge Black, "the only chief whom the 
hearts of the people would know.
  "His accomplishments were very extraordinary.  He was born a 
musician, and the natural talent was highly cultivated.  He was a 
connoisseur in painting and sculpture.  The whole round of English 
literature was familiar to him.*  He was at home among the ancient 
classics. * * * He
 
  *He was well read, we have seen it stated, in the British classics, 
fond of English drama, and familiar with the dramatists of the 
Restoration.

163  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Portrait of Wm. E. Miller

164  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

Blank Page

165  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

had studied medicine in his youth and understood it well.  His mind 
absorbed all kinds of knowledge with scarcely an effort."*
  In regard to his mental habits, he was a deep student, but not a 
close student; he worked most effectively, but he worked reluctantly.  
The concurrent testimony of all who knew him is that he seldom or never 
wrote, except when under the pressure of necessity, but when he once 
brought the powers of his mind to a focus and took up the pen, he wrote 
continuously and without erasure.  When he once began to write an 
opinion he very rarely laid it aside until it was completed.  This, 
with the broad grasp with which he took hold of his subject, has given 
to his opinions a consistency and unity otherwise difficult to have 
attained.  He saw a case in all its varied relations, and the 
principles by which it was governed, rather by the intuitive insight of 
genius, than as the result of labor.
  These opinions very seldom give a history of decided cases, but 
invariably put the decision upon some leading principle of law - 
referring to but few cases, by way of illustration, or to show 
exceptions to the rule.  He was eminently self-reliant.  He appeared at 
a time when the law of our commonwealth was in process of formation, 
and in its development his formulating power has been felt.
  Of his style much has been said.  Said Stevens "I do not know by whom 
it has been surpassed."  It is a judicial style, at once compact, 
technical and exact.  His writing can be made to convey just what he 
means to express and nothing more.  His meaning is not always upon the 
surface, but when it is perceived it is certain and without ambiguity.  
[It may be interesting to state that Chief Justice Gibson often thought 
out his opinions while he was playing upon the violin.  When a thought 
came to him he would lay down his instrument and write.  As to his 
accuracy of language, he was in the habit of carrying with him a book 
of synonyms.  These facts have been told to the writer by his son, Col. 
George Gibson, of the United States Army.]
  It has been said that one "could pick out his opinions from others 
like gold coin from among copper."  He was, for more than half his 
life, a chief or associate justice on the bench, and his opinions 
extend through no less than seventy volumes of our reports** - an 
imperishable monument to his memory.
  Chief Justice Gibson died in Philadelphia May 3, 1853, in the 
seventy-third year of his age.  He was buried two days afterward in 
Carlisle.
  In the old grave-yard, upon the tall marble shaft which was erected 
over his tomb, we read the following beautiful inscription from the pen 
of Chief Justice Jeremiah S. Black:
                        In the various knowledge
                    Which forms the perfect SCHOLAR
                           He had no superior.
                     Independent, upright and able,
           He had all the highest qualities of a great JUDGE.
               In the difficult science of Jurisprudence,
                      He mastered every Department,
                  Discussed almost every question, and
               Touched no subject which he did not adorn.
                        He won in early manhood,
                And retained to the close of a long life,
               The AFFECTION of his brethren on the Bench,
                         The RESPECT of the Bar
                    And the CONFIDENCE of the people.

  Hon. John Kennedy, who had studied under the elder Hamilton and had 
been admitted to our bar under Riddle in 1798, was appointed to the 
bench

  *Judge Black's Eulogy on Gibson.
  **From 2 Sergeant and Rawle to 7 Harris.

166  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

of the supreme court in 1830.  He was born in Cumberland County in 
June, 1774; graduated at Dickinson College in 1795, and after his 
admission to the bar, removed to a northern circuit, where he became 
the compeer of men like James Ross, John Lyon, Parker Campbell, and 
others scarcely less distinguished.  He afterward removed to 
Pittsburgh, where his high reputation as a lawyer at once introduced 
him to a lucrative practice.  From 1830 he remained upon the bench 
until his death, August 26, 1846.  His opinions, extending through 
twenty-seven volumes of reports, are distinguished by lucid 
argumentation and laborious research.  Judge Gibson, who had known him 
from boyhood, and who sat with him upon the bench for a period of over 
fifteen years, said:  "His judicial labors were his recreations.  He 
clung to the common law as a child to its nurse, and how much he drew 
from it may be seen in his opinions, which, by their elaborate 
minuteness, remind us of the over-fullness of Lord Coke.  Patient in 
investigation and slow in judgment, he seldom changed his opinion.  A 
cooler head and a warmer heart never met together in the same person; 
and it is barely just to say that he has not left behind a more learned 
lawyer or a more upright man."  In David Paul Brown's "Forum" we find 
the following:  "It is recorded that Sergeant Maynard had such a relish 
for the old Year Books, that he carried one in his coach to divert his 
time in travel, and said he preferred it to a comedy.  The late Judge 
Kennedy, of the supreme court, who was the most enthusiastic lover of 
the law we ever new, used to say that his greatest amusement consisted 
in reading the law; and indeed, he seemed to take almost equal pleasure 
in writing his legal opinions, in some of which, Reed vs. Patterson, 
for instance, he certainly combined the attractions of law and 
romance."  He is buried in the old grave-yard at Carlisle.
  Hon. Samuel Hepburn (seventh president judge), the successor of Judge 
Reed, first appears upon the bench in April, 1839.  Judge Hepburn was 
born in 1807 in Williamsport, Penn., at which place he began the study 
of law under James Armstrong, who was afterward a judge on the supreme 
bench.  He completed his legal studies at Dickinson College under Reed, 
and was admitted to the bar of Cumberland County in November, 1834.  He 
was, at the time of his admission appointed adjunct professor of law in 
the Moot court of Dickinson College by Judge Reed.  Before he had been 
at the bar five years, he was appointed by Gov. Porter, president judge 
of the Ninth Judicial District, then embracing Cumberland, Perry and 
Juniata, and he presided at times also, during his term in the civil 
courts of Dauphin.  He was at this time the youngest judge in 
Pennsylvania to whom a president judge's commission had been ever 
offered.  Among the important cases the McClintock trial took place 
while he was upon the bench.  After the expiration of his term he 
resumed the practice of law in Carlisle, where he still resides.  The 
degree of LL. D. was conferred upon Judge Hepburn by Washington 
College, Penn.
  The most prominent practitioners admitted under Judge Hepburn were J. 
Ellis Bonham, Lemuel Todd, William H. Miller, Benjamin F. Junkin, 
William M. Penrose and Alexander Brady Sharpe.
  J. Ellis Bonham, Esq., was among the ablest lawyers admitted under 
Judge Hepburn.  He was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., March 31, 1816, 
graduated at Jefferson College, Penn., studied law in Dickinson College 
under Reed, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1839.
  "He had no kindred here nor family influence.  His pecuniary gains 
were small during the first few years of his professional career, and 
he had little or no aid outside of them, as his father was in moderate 
circumstances."  He 

167  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

had not long, however, at the bar before he was appointed deputy 
attorney-general for the county - a position which he filled with 
conspicuous ability.  He had a taste for literature and his library was 
large and choice.  He had little fondness for the drudgery of his 
profession, but he had political ambition, and his political reading 
and knowledge were extensive.  He wrote for the leading political 
journals of his party articles on many of the prominent questions of 
the day.  "During his term in the Legislature he was the acknowledged 
leader of the House, as the Hon. Charles R. Buckalew was of the Senate; 
and they were not unlike in mental characteristics, and somewhat alike 
in personal appearance.  They were decidedly the weakest men physically 
and the strongest mentally in either House."
  After the expiration of his term he was nominated for Congress, and 
although he was in a district largely Democratic, eminently fitted for 
the position, and had, himself, great influence in the political 
organization, he was defeated by the sudden birth of a new party.  He 
died shortly afterward of congestion of the lungs, March 19, 1855.
  In personal appearance Mr. Bonham was rather under than above the 
medium height, delicately formed, with light hair and complexion.  He 
was of nervous temperament.  His countenance was handsome and refined.  
As an advocate he was eminently a graceful and polished speaker, 
attractive in his manner, with a poetic imagination and chaste and 
polished diction.  His speeches, although they at times bore traces of 
laborious preparation, were effective, and on one occasion, we are 
told, many persons in the court were moved to tears.
  He died before his talents had reached their prime, after having been 
at the bar for fifteen years and before he had attained the age of 
forty.
  Hon. Lemuel Todd was born in Carlisle July 29, 1817.  He graduated at 
Dickinson College in 1839, read law under Gen. Samuel Alexander and was 
admitted to practice in August, 1841.  He was a partner of Gen. 
Alexander until the time of his death in 1843.  He was elected to 
Congress from the Eighteenth District in 1854 on the Know-nothing 
ticket as against J. Ellis Bonham on the Democratic, and was elected 
congressman at large in 1875.  He presided over the State conventions 
of the Republican party at Harrisburg that nominated David Wilmot for 
governor; at Pittsburgh that nominated Gov. Curtin; and at Philadelphia 
that advocated for President Gen. Grant.
  Gen. Todd has practiced continuously at the bar except for a period 
during the late war, a portion of which time he acted as inspector-
general of Pennsylvania troops under Gov. Curtin.
  William H. Miller, for more than a quarter of a century, was an 
active practitioner at the bar of our county.  He was a student of 
Judge Reed, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1842; William M. 
Biddle, S. Dunlap Adair and J. Ellis Bonham, Esqs., being his committee 
of examination.  His initiate was difficult, but by perseverance and 
talent he succeeded in winning a large practice and an honorable 
position at the bar.  As a speaker he was deliberate and dignified; as 
a man refined and amiable; scholarly in both his taste and in his 
appearance.  As a lawyer he was cool and self-possessed, and with 
deliberate logic and tact he won, as a rule, the implicit confidence of 
a jury.  He died suddenly of congestion of the brain in June, 1877.
  William McFunn Penrose, was admitted under Hepburn.  He was born in 
Carlisle March 29, 1825; graduated with honor at Dickinson College in 
1844, and was admitted to the bar in November, 1846.  He was the eldest 
son of Hon. Charles B. Penrose.  As a lawyer he was eminently 
successful, learned, quick and accurate in his perceptions, cogent in 
argument, fluent but terse as

168  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

a speaker, he seldom failed to convince a jury.  He had a keen 
perception of distinctions in the cases, and of the principles which 
underlie them, and in all questions of practice was particularly at 
home.  He served for a time as colonel of the Sixth Regiment at the 
beginning of the war.  He died September 2, 1872, in the prime of life 
and in the midst of usefulness.
  Hon. Robert M. Henderson, born near Carlisle March 11, 1827.  
Graduated at Dickinson College in 1845.  Read law under Judge Reed, and 
was admitted to the bar in August, 1847.  He was elected, by the Whig 
party, to the Legislature in 1851 and 1852.  He served, by appointment 
in April, 1874, as additional judge of the Twelfth Judicial District, 
and was elected to that office in the same year.  He became president 
judge of this district in January, 1882, resigned his position in March 
of the same year, and returned to his practice in Carlisle.  He served 
as a colonel in the late war.
  Alexander Brady Sharpe was born in Newton Township, Cumberland 
County, August 12, 1827.  He graduated with honor at Jefferson College, 
Pennsylvania, in 1846.  He read law under Robert M. Bard, Esq., of 
Chambersburg, and subsequently with Hon. Frederick Watts, of Carlisle.  
He was admitted to the bar in November 1848, since which time he has 
practiced, except during the period of the war, when he was in the 
service of his country, a portion of the time serving upon the staff of 
Gen. Ord.
  Hon. Frederick Watts became judge of our courts in 1849.  He was the 
son of David Watts, a distinguished member of the early bar, and was 
born in Carlisle May 9, 1801.  He graduated at Dickinson College in 
1819.  Two years later he entered the office of Andrew Carothers, and 
was admitted to practice in August 1824.  He remained for a time in 
partnership with his preceptor and acquired a lucrative practice.  
During a period of forty-two years from the October term 1827, to May 
term, 1869, in the Supreme Court, there is no volume of reports 
containing cases from the middle district (except for the three years 
when he was upon the bench) in which his name is not found.  For 
fifteen years he was the reporter of the decisions of that court, from 
1829; three volumes, "Watts & Penrose," ten volumes "Watts Reports," 
and nine "Watts & Sergeant."  On March 9, 1849, he was commissioned by 
Gov. Johnston, president judge of the Ninth Judicial District, 
containing the counties of Cumberland, Perry and Juniata.  He retired 
in 1852, when the judiciary became elective, and resumed his practice, 
from which after a long and honorable career, he gradually withdrew in 
about 1860-69.  In August, 1871, he was appointed and served as 
commissioner of agriculture under Hayes.  As a man he had great force 
of character, sterling integrity, and, as a lawyer, ability, dignity 
and confidence.  He had great power with a jury from their implicit 
confidence in him.  He was always firm, self-reliant, despised quirks 
and quibbles, and was a model of fairness in the trial of a cause.  He 
is still living in honorable retirement in Carlisle at an advanced age, 
being now the oldest surviving member of the bar.
  We have now brought the history of our bar with sketches, some of 
them dealing with living members, down to the time when Judge Graham 
appears upon the bench, which is within the recollection of the 
youngest lawyer.  For the future we must for obvious reasons satisfy 
ourself with briefer mention.
  Hon. James H. Graham, born September 10, 1807, in West Pennsborough 
Township, graduated at Dickinson College in 1827, studied law under 
Andrew Carothers, Esq., admitted to the bar in November, 1829.  In 
1839, after the election of Gov. Porter, he was appointed deputy 
attorney-general for Cumberland County, a position which he filled ably 
for six years.  After the amendment of the Constitution making the 
judiciary elective, he received the nom-

169  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

ination (Democratic) and was elected in October, 1851, president judge 
of the Ninth Judicial District, comprising the counties of Cumberland, 
Perry and Juniata.  At the expiration of his term he was re-elected in 
1861, serving another full term of ten years.  After his retirement 
from the bench he returned again to the practice of law.  He died in 
the fall of 1882.  In 1862 his alma mater conferred upon him the degree 
of LL.D.  Perhaps the highest eulogy we can pay is to say that for more 
than half a century at the bar or on the bench, there was never, in the 
language of Judge Watts, a breath of imputation against his character 
as a lawyer, or upon his honor as a judge."
  Hon. Benjamin F. Junkin was admitted to the bar in August, 1844.  He 
lived in Bloomfield and became, with the younger McIntyre, a leader of 
the bar of Perry County.  In 1871, he was elected the tenth president 
judge of the Ninth Judicial District - then including the counties of 
Cumberland, Perry and Juniata.  He was the last of the perambulatory 
judges.  On the redistribution of the district under the constitution 
of 1874, he chose Perry and Juniata, and therefore, from that period, 
ceased to preside over the courts in Cumberland County.
  Hon. Martin C. Herman, who succeeded Hon. Benjamin Junkin as the 
eleventh judge of our Judicial District, was born in Silver Spring 
Township, Cumberland County, February 14, 1841.  He graduated at 
Dickinson College in 1862.  He had registered as a student of law 
previous to this time with B. McIntyre & Son, Bloomfield, then with 
William H. Miller, of Carlisle, under whom he completed his studies.  
He was admitted to the bar in January, 1864.  He was elected by the 
Democratic party president judge of the Ninth Judicial District, in 
1874, taking the bench on the first Monday of January in the succeeding 
year, and serving for full term of ten years, and was nominated by 
acclamation in August, 1884.
  Hon. Wilbur F. Sadler, twelfth and last judge, was born October 14, 
1840; read law under M. Morrison at Williamsport, and afterward in 
Carlisle; was admitted to the Carlisle bar in 1864, and acquired a 
large clientage; was elected district attorney in 1871, and, in 1884, 
president judge of the Ninth Judicial District of Pennsylvania.
  The present members of the bar, with the dates of their admission, 
are as follows:
  J. E. Barnitz, August, 1877; Bennett Bellman, April, 1874; Hon. F. E. 
Beltzhoover, April, 1864; Edward W. Biddle, April, 1878; Theodore 
Cornman, 1870; Duncan M. Graham, November, 1876; John Hays, 1859; Hon. 
Samuel Hepburn, November, 1834; Samuel Hepburn, Jr., January, 1863; 
Hon. Martin C. Herman, January, 1864; Christian P. Humrich, November, 
1854; W. A. Kramer, August, 1883; John B. Landis, 1881; Stewart M. 
Leidich, August, 1872; W. Penn Lloyd, April, 1865; John R. Miller, 
August, 1867; George Miller, January, 1873; Henry Newsham, April, 1859; 
Richard M. Parker, November, 1876; A. Brady Sharpe, November, 1848; 
William J. Shearer, January, 1852; John T. Stuart, November, 1876; 
Silas Stuart, April, 1881; J. L. Shelley, August, 1875; Alexander Bache 
Smead; Hon. Lemuel Todd, April, 1841; William E. Trickett*, August, 
1875; Joseph G. Vale, April, 1871; Hon. Frederick Watts (retired), 
1829; Edward B. Watts, August, 1875; Hon. J. Marion Weakley, January, 
1861; John W. Wetzel, April, 1874; Muhlenburg Williams (Newville), 
November, 1860; Robert McCachran (Newville), 1857.
  Among the early members of our bench and bar were men who fought

  *William E. Trickett, formerly professor of metaphysics in Dickinson 
College, and author of "Lions in Pennsylvania."

170  HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.

and were distinguished in the Indian wars and in the Revolution.  No 
less than three who practiced on our courts were signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, and two were members of the colonial 
convention at its inception.  Three sat upon the supreme bench, one as 
Chief Justice, who has been justly called, in a legal sense, the "great 
glory of his native State."  Since then many have become distinguished, 
in their day, on the bench, in the halls of legislation, or at the bar.  
In its prestige the bar of Cumberland County has been equal to any in 
the State, and its reputation has been won in many a well contested 
battle for a period of now more than a century and a quarter, so that, 
whatever it may be to-day, it may well pride itself upon its past, and 
stand, among the younger bars of our sister commonwealths, like a 
Douglas bonneted, and bow down to none.