Northumberland County PA Archives Biographies.....Rockefeller, William M. 1830 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 6, 2005, 5:03 am Author: Biographical Publishing Co. HON. WILLIAM M. ROCKEFELLER, who for a period of twenty-one years was recognized as the leading attorney of the Northumberland County Bar, and who for another period of twenty years presided as the judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, was born in Sunbury, Northumberland County, his present place of residence, August 18, 1830, and is a son of David and Catherine (Mettler) Rockefeller. His active career has been a meritorious one, and his important labors on bar and bench entitle him to the highest regard and esteem of his fellow-townsmen. Since he retired from the bench in 1891 he has been leading a more or less retired life, because of poor health, and has spent much of the time in the South; he has also indulged himself in considerable traveling, visiting the principal countries of Europe. The family is of either Holland or German stock. To begin with, the original ancestor of the Rockefellers in America, Peter Rockefeller, was born in the Old Country in 1710, and emigrated to America, settling in Armville; Hunterdon County, N. J., where he acquired a vast tract of land. His will bearing the date December 6, 1738, transfers 763 acres of land, situated in Armville township, to his son, who was also named Peter. Of the children of Peter Rockefeller, Jr., one, Godfrey Rockefeller, was a brother of the grandfather of John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil magnate, and the great-grandfather of our subject. Godfrey Rockefeller moved to Northumberland County, Pa., in 1798 and took up his residence as a pioneer farmer near Snyder-town, in Rush township, where he owned a large farm, which he transformed into a cultivated state from a dense wilderness of forest, its condition when he settled upon it. Of his children William Rockefeller, the grandfather of the Judge, was born, reared, lived and died on the old homestead farm in Rush township, engaged wholly in agricultural pursuits. His life was not characterized by any especially stirring events, for he was content to enjoy home life, secure in the estimation and good will of his fellow-citizens. His wife bore him several children, and of these David Rockefeller, the father of the subject of this biographical review, was born on the homestead, September 6, 1802. David Rockefeller grew to manhood on the homestead and obtained the customary rudiments of an education in the common schools of Rush township; he gave especial attention in his young manhood to the study of surveying, and practically made it his life occupation. He became one of the most efficient, and expert land surveyors of Pennsylvania and had ample scope for his talents in that line, for he was frequently called upon to survey disputed lines, locate original lines, corners, etc., and to give expert testimony in court in cases arising out of such disputes. He thus obtained wide reputation, for his work carried him into all sections of the Keystone State. He served as deputy sheriff a number of years in early life, was register and recorder by appointment in 1847-48, and served as deputy surveyor general of Northumberland County for a long term of years, being considered by his fellow-citizens almost a fixture in that office. He was one of the best known men in his part of the state, this distinction resting almost wholly upon his good work as a surveyor. In 1826 he located in Sunbury, and spent the remainder of his life there, dying in that town August 22, 1876. He married Catherine Mettler and they became the proud parents of five children, three of whom died in infancy, the two surviving children being: William M., the subject of these lines; and A. Jordan, an attorney-at-law, who died in 1862. Judge Rockefeller acquired an excellent academic education in Sunbury Academy, and then read law with the late Hon. John B. Packer of Sunbury, and the late Judge Jordan, also of Sunbury, with whom he completed his professional training, being admitted to the bar of Northumberland County on August 6, 1850. He practiced law one year in Minersville, Schuylkill County, and then located in Sunbury, where he practiced continually until 1871, when he was elevated to the bench. Entering upon the practice of law with a complete preparation and having mental abilities and a natural bent of the kind considered most useful for a lawyer, Judge Rockefeller attained both prosperity and influence in his twenty-one years of varied practice and valuable experience. Ever since the War of the Rebellion, our subject has been a stanch Republican, although he was a Democrat before the struggle that showed the folly of secession. He was elected to the position of president judge of the Eighth Judicial District of Pennsylvania on the Republican ticket and served two terms of ten years each, presiding until 1891, his excellent record as a judge being indorsed in 1881 by a re-election to the judgeship. He was succeeded in 1891 by the present incumbent. Judge Savidge, whose personal history we present on another page of this Book of Biographies. In 1855, a few years after locating in Sunbury for the practice of his profession, our subject was elected chief burgess of the borough. In 1853, in collaboration with Judge Jordan and M. L. Shindel, he revised and edited the second edition of the "American Pleader's Assistant," a guide for young lawyers in pleading and legal forms, that has found a place in many libraries. During his twenty years on the bench Judge Rockefeller tried a great number of cases, among which were many prosecutions brought against the "Molly Maguires." He delivered the opinion of the court in the Lycoming judicial contest, which covered a long term of years, and a vast amount of complicated evidence. As a judge, our subject was clear, concise and decided, upholding well the dignity of the bench, and exhibiting legal learning that made all of the members of the bar entertain for him the profoundest respect. Few of his rulings ever admitted a questioning doubt, and very rarely have his decisions been reversed in a higher court. He was very popular in legal circles and was a man of no small political influence. On August 11, 1857, occurred the ceremony that united Judge Rockefeller in marriage with Emily Jones, daughter of Thomas and Maria (Housel) Jones of Lewisburg, Union County, Pa. They have three children, namely: Mary, the wife of J. Nelson Ewing, of Baltimore; Charles W.; and Flora, the wife of Ward Rice of Pueblo, Colo. Charles W. Rockefeller, our subject's only son, is a leading attorney at Sunbury, and is also engaged in the insurance business, being a member of the firm of Derr & Rockefeller. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which the judge has been a trustee for nearly forty years and chairman of the board since 1876. He is a man of fine, gentlemanly instincts, true to all that is best in life, and a power for good in the community where almost his entire life has been spent. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899) This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/pafiles/ File size: 7.6 Kb