BIOS: Hon. Alexander H. COFFROTH, Somerset, Somerset County, PA

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of 
Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, Biographical Review 
Publishing Company: 1899, ppg 17-21.

  Hon. Alexander H. Coffroth, President of the Somerset County Bar Association 
and a resident of the town of Somerset, Pa., was born here in 1828, the youngest 
child of John and Mary (Besore) Coffroth.  His great-grandfather, Lieutenant 
John Coffroth, a native of Germany, came to this country before the Revolution, 
and served on the patriot side throughout the whole of the great struggle for 
American Independence.  Lieutenant Coffroth's son Jacob was also in the 
Revolution, and after the war they both settled in Hagerstown, Md.
  John Coffroth, above named, son of Jacob, was born in Hagerstown in 1790.  
When a young man he was engaged in bringing merchandise from Baltimore to 
Somerset.  This was before the days of railroads, and goods were transported on 
pack horses.  During the latter part of his life he resided in Somerset.  He was 
a member of the German Reformed church, and a very active and influential Mason.  
In politics he was a Whig, and when Henry Clay was up for President he was one 
of four men in Somerset County to vote for him.  He died in 1854.  His wife, who 
was born in Green Castle, and died in 1869, at the age of seventy-six, was a 
member of the Disciples' church.  Of their nine children, only two besides the 
subject of this sketch are living.  These are William B. of Somerset and George 
R. of Baltimore, Md.
  Educated in the public schools and at the old Somerset Academy, Alexander H. 
Coffroth in his early manhood engaged in teaching, making that vocation a 
stepping-stone to the profession of law, which had been his ambition from 
boyhood.  After studying in the law office of the Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, he was 
admitted to the bar in 1851, and from that year to the present has been a power 
in his chosen field.  He has been connected with many noteworthy and severely 
contested cases, and it is seldom that, even now, an important trial occurs in 
the county in which he does not take an active part.  He was counsel for the 
Nicely brothers, who were tried for the murder of Herman Umberger, and this case 
will be remembered by many as one of the most famous cases ever tried in the 
State of Pennsylvania.  Mr. Coffroth has been a tireless worker, but by 
following a rigid system has worked with unruffled nerves.  Of a kindly 
disposition, with urbane and cheerful manners, he has earned the reputation of 
being one of the best-hearted men at the bar of the county.  His interest in the 
progress of Somerset has brought him in many ways into various local 
organizations, and at the centennial celebration in 1895 Mr. Coffroth officiated 
as president.  During some ten years past he has been chairman of the bar 
association of the county.  He is acknowledged to be one of the foremost lawyers 
in Southern Pennsylvania.
  Mr. Coffroth is a Democrat, and for years his name has been a tower of 
strength to his party in this section.  It has been said of him:  "A man with 
generous sympathies, with few peers as an orator and a lawyer, gifted with the 
grand power of stirring the hearts of men, he has been many times called upon 
when a leader was needed to marshal the Democratic hosts and to carry out the 
will of the people at large."  He has been an outspoken Democrat during the dark 
as well as the successful days of this party, thus proving his allegiance to the 
principles he believes in, and in spite of the fact that his is the minority 
party in this region.  In 1862 he was selected as the Democratic candidate for 
the Congressional nomination, in the district composed of the counties of 
Somerset, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin, and Adams, being pitted against the Hon. 
Edward McPherson, who had already served one term and had the advantage of party 
organization.  He reduced the Republican majority of one thousand eight hundred 
in the county to one of seven hundred, and was elected by a majority of five 
hundred and sixty votes in the district, which usually went Republican by three 
thousand votes.  He was the youngest man in the House, was re-elected for a 
second term, and at the expiration of that was offered the nomination for a 
third term.  Feeling, however, that his profession demanded more of his time, he 
declined.  In 1878 he was again prevailed upon to accept the nomination for 
Congress, and was triumphantly elected, the district then comprising the 
counties of Somerset, Cambria, Blair, and Bedford.  Although this was a 
Republican district of several thousand, he received a majority of over three 
hundred votes.  His opponent in this instance was General Jacob M. Campbell.  
During the first period of his Congressional career, Mr. Coffroth was a member 
of the Committee for the Examination of the Pension and Bounty Department, and 
of the Committee on Invalid Pensions.  During his last term he was chairman of 
the Committee on Invalid Pensions and of the Select Committee on the Examination 
of the Pension and Bounty Department.  He was the second member of the Committee 
on Enrolled Bills.  He took an active part in debate on the floor of Congress.  
His memorial addresses on the life and character of Rush Clark, and on Fernando 
Wood, were productions of lofty eloquence.  Perhaps his most noteworthy speech 
in Congress was the one whose keynote is given in the opening clause, as 
follows:  "Mr. Chairman, trial by jury is defined by the renowned English 
commentator on common law to be the bulwark of English liberty.  An honest and 
fair election, where the elector can deposit his ballot untrammeled and unawed, 
is the palladium of American liberty."
  As a public speaker and political organizer in conventions, Mr. Coffroth has 
made a brilliant record.  He was president of the Democratic State Convention in 
Pennsylvania in 1859.  He was a member of the historic Secession Convention at 
Charleston, S.C., just before the war, and loudly raised his voice against 
disunion.  Frequently he has been a member of the Democratic State Conventions.  
He was in the National Democratic Convention that nominated Horace Greeley for 
president, and also in the one that nominated Grover Cleveland in 1884.  In 1896 
he was Democratic Presidential Elector-at-large.  His campaign speeches have 
been vigorous, witty, and effective.  During his career in Congress he was known 
as a true friend to the soldier.  He kept a force of clerks busy, and labored 
untiringly himself for their interests.  He was one of the very few Democrats of 
those stormy days who received the warm indorsement [sic] of a bitter partisan 
press for his steadfast courage and service to the Union cause.  Among his 
personal friends were President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton.  Although Mr. 
Coffroth was the youngest member of Congress at the time of the tragic death of 
Lincoln, he was selected as one of the twelve pall-bearers at the funeral, owing 
his appointment, no doubt, to the friendly relations well known to have existed 
between the President and himself.  We are here permitted to quote from his 
reminiscences of those days, which are of unusual interest: -    
  "I commenced my first term of Congress in December, 1863, and remained during 
the war.  The famous battlefield of Gettysburg was in my district at that time, 
and I visited the White House almost daily, and soon became a friend and ardent 
admirer of Lincoln.  He generally granted me the many favors I requested on 
behalf of my constituents.
  "I well remember going early in 1864 to see the President, with a well-known 
Methodist minister, to urge his appointment to a post chaplaincy in the army.  I 
introduced him to Mr. Lincoln as living in Bedford, the place of the celebrated 
springs.  The President in a jovial manner said: 'Speaking of Bedford reminds me 
of a story I must tell you of a woman who lived in my old district and had a 
sick child which she was most anxious to take to some well-known watering place.  
One day she said to the attendant physician, "Doctor, don't you think I ought to 
take my sick child to some healing spring?"  The doctor replied, "Oh yes, madam, 
just the thing!"  She then wanted to know what spring he would recommend.  The 
doctor answered that was a matter of indifference, if she would take along a 
cake of soap and use it freely on the infant.' We enjoyed this story, and Mr. 
Lincoln then said, 'Take your friend to Surgeon-general Hammond, and if there is 
a vacancy he shall be appointed before lightning can strike him.'
  "Many poor and unfortunate women came to Washington during the time of the 
drafts to implore the President to discharge their drafted husbands.  For 
several successive days I noticed four poorly-clad women in the reception room 
of the White House.  At last I approached them and asked if they had come to see 
the President.  One replied that they had, but could not get an interview.  She 
said that they were poor, that their husbands had been drafted, and they wanted 
to see if the President would not discharge them.  I took a card and wrote on 
the back, 'Four poor women have been waiting for some days to see you.  Shall I 
bring them in?'  The messenger who took my card returned and let us into Mr. 
Lincoln's presence.  I told the President that the women would explain their 
business.  The one who had spoken to me in the reception room then said: 'Mr. 
Lincoln, we have come here to tell you that our husbands have been put in the 
war; that we are very poor and have large families.  We are out of bread at 
home, and have no one to provide for us but our husbands.  I have sold my only 
cow to procure money enough to come here and see you; and, oh, Mr. Lincoln, we 
will pray to God night and day to bless you, if you only discharge our 
husbands!'  The President took up his pen, wrote a few lines, and handed it to 
the distressed wives, remarking that he had discharged their husbands.  They 
burst into tears, and one said, 'Mr. Lincoln, we hope to meet you in heaven.'  
Tears rolled down the cheeks of the Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of 
our mighty nation; and, turning from the weeping women, he gazed out at the 
surging waters of the Potomac while we took our departure.
  "At the time of the assassination of Lincoln, Congress was not in session.  
However, there was a large number of Senators and members of the House in the 
city, and many hastened to the Capitol at the hearing of the startling 
intelligence.  At noon of April 17, the Senators and Representatives met in the 
Senate reception room.  Lafayette Foster was called to chair and Schuyler Colfax 
was chosen secretary.
  "On motion of Charles Sumner a committee of four members of each House was 
appointed to make the proper arrangements for the funeral.
  "The meeting reassembled at four o'clock, and Mr. Sumner reported that the 
committee had selected as pall-bearers, on the part of the Senate, Lafayette 
Foster, of Connecticut, Ira Morgan, of New York, Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, 
Richard Yates, of Illinois, Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, and John Conness, of 
California; and on the part of the House Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, 
Alexander H. Coffroth, of Pennsylvania, Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, Schuyler 
Colfax, of Indiana, H. G. Worthington, of Nevada, and Elihu B. Washburne, of 
Illinois.
  "The funeral ceremonies were conducted by Bishop Simpson in the East Room of 
the White House at noon of April 19.  The pavement of Pennsylvania Avenue, the 
windows, porches, roofs of the houses, and cross streets were densely packed 
with an anxious and sad people, as the remains of the lamented President were 
escorted to the Capitol, there to lie in state for two days.
  "During this period, thousand upon thousands of sad people passed to take a 
last look at the pale and rigid face.  Among the number I noticed a colored 
woman, who held two children in her arms, give expression to her grief in 
violent crying."
  Of Lincoln's pall-bearers there are now (1899) two survivors, and only two; to 
wit, the Hon. H. G. Worthington, and the Hon. A. H. Coffroth, of Somerset.
  In 1854 Mr. Coffroth was united in marriage with Nora Kimmell, who bore him 
four children.  Two sons, a daughter and Mrs. Coffroth are deceased.  His 
surviving son, A. Bruce Coffroth, is one of the most prominent members of the 
bar in Lincoln, Neb.