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 Address delivered before the Allegheny C 
 
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A D D R ESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 DECEMBEE 1, 1888. 
 
 SKETCHES OF PROMINENT LAWYERS OF THE ALLEGHpi; 
 .eOUNTY bAR OF THE LAST, CENTIJRY-MD' r' 
 EARLIER YEARS OF f HIS. ' ^ ,-; , ■ ; . 
 
 BY- 
 
 HON. DANIEJ. JGNEW, 
 
 %1^.D: 
 
 REPRINTED PEOM 
 
 ■" The l^'Bliiits-rtljirANiA MAGAziNE 'OT History and Biosra^phj*." ' 
 
ALEXANDER ADDISON. 
 
 (Born In Morayshire, Scotland, 1758. Died 1807.) 
 
^jrh.^',^ ^■'ff^)^^\ .> %^' 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ftLLEGHENY COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION, 
 
 DEJOEIVIBER 1, 1888. 
 
 Mr. Pkbsident and Gentlemen op the Allegheny Countt 
 Bar Association : 
 
 I declined your appointment as historian of the bar and 
 bench of Allegheny County. I found that the admissions 
 to this bar in 1863 had been six hundred and fifty. The 
 correspondence and labor of collecting information and the 
 compilation of even a partial number of sketches would ex- 
 tend over many months, resulting in a large book instead 
 of a modest pamphlet appropriate to this occasion. I there- 
 fore undertook to ftirnish a few sketches only of promi- 
 nent lawyers of the last century and earlier years of this. 
 Brief as these must be, they occupy a large space. But too 
 much cannot be sacrificed to brevity. It would be to omit 
 much that is interesting, and leave virtues, peculiarities, and 
 true character often obscure. 
 
 The life of an upright, honorable, and learned lawyer is 
 full of instruction. He is in the front of active business, 
 and his example useful. Intrusted with vast interests and 
 
2 Address to the Allegheny Cowniy Bar AssodaMon. 
 
 called to advise, often under the most painful and delicate 
 circumstances, he is the confidant and most trusted person 
 in society. His integrity and learning are of the highest 
 order. Vulgar prejudice assigns to the profession a lower 
 position, where artful tricks and dishonest schemes hold a 
 greater sway. True it is, and as sad as true, there is too 
 much of these prevailing in the lower grades. But there 
 is much of high and honorable character left, and many 
 there are whose places cannot be easily filled and whose 
 loss is sincerely mourned. 
 
 It is of such I fain would write. But to raise from the 
 ashes of dead generations the forms of those who existed 
 nearly one hundred years ago — of those who played con- 
 spicuous parts and even dazzled the eyes of their contem- 
 poraries with the brilliancy of their genius, or commanded 
 their admiration by the force of their intellects — is a work 
 of labor now scarcely possible. Around many names tradi- 
 tion circles bright halos of light, giving promise to the 
 hope, but, when approached, which fade away, leaving only 
 shadowy forms, finally disappearing in darkness. 
 
 Of the millions who crowded the earth a century ago, 
 who are now known ? Their very names are lost. Noth- 
 ing remains, yet the same sun shone on them as brightly, 
 they chased happiness as eagerly, and followed the phantoms 
 of fancy as fondly as we do ; and, as we, they thought not 
 of the fleeting foot-falls of time and of the coming hours, 
 when all would be forgotten and not even a rack of memory 
 be left behind. Such is the work I am called to perform, 
 in raking among the ashes of the dead past. 
 
 Our starting period is the erection of the county of Alle- 
 gheny by the Act of the 24th of September, 1788. In 
 the following year the county embraced all the territory 
 lying east of the Allegheny and southwest of the Monon- 
 gahela and Ohio Rivers, now bounded by the counties of 
 "Westmoreland and "Washington, and all the territory north 
 and west of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers, bounded by 
 the New York and Ohio State lines. It was over this vast 
 spread, largely of wilderness, that many whom I am to sketch 
 
Address to the AUeghem) Cmmiy Bar Assodaiion. 3 
 
 performed their parts. Peace with the Indian tribes was 
 not concluded until August, 1795, by the treaty of General 
 Anthony Wayne at Fort Greenville, ratified by the Senate 
 of the United States December 22, 1796. 
 
 The Fifth Circuit of the Courts of Common Pleas of the 
 State, under the Constitution of 1790, was established by 
 the Act of 13th April, 1791, and was composed of the 
 counties of "Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Alle- 
 gheny. Of this circuit the first president judge was Alex- 
 ander Addison, a man of great note and many virtues, and 
 worthy to begin our sketches. 
 
 ALEXANDER ADDISON. 
 
 Born in Ireland, according to an early note, but in Scot- 
 land, according to family tradition, he was of Scottish 
 descent, and was educated at Edinburgh, according to the 
 same note, but at Aberdeen by family tradition ; and was 
 licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Aberlowe. Coming 
 to Western Pennsylvania, he was, on the 20th of December, 
 1785, permitted by the Redstone Presbytery (Brownsville) 
 to preach within its bounds. For a short time he preached 
 at Washington, Pennsylvania, then studied law, was ad- 
 mitted there, and admitted in Allegheny County December 
 16, 1788, and in 1791 was commissioned president judge. 
 
 Judge Addison was eminent for his culture, erudition, 
 correct principles, and his patriotism. Living in troublous 
 times and during the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, he was 
 sorely tried; but all his efforts were on the side of good 
 order and lawful government. An earnest advocate of the 
 adoption of the Federal Constitution, he was antagonized 
 by those who opposed it, and by some who were impreg- 
 nated with the loose and virulent ideas of the French revo- 
 lution. This antagonism led finally to his impeachment at 
 Lancaster in 1802. After a trial, the most flagitious ever 
 urged on by vicious hate and obnoxious partisanship, he 
 was convicted and sentenced to be removed from office, and 
 ever afterwards to be ineligible to the office of judge in any 
 court in this commonwealth. But insolence and enmity 
 
4 Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar Association. 
 
 failed to rob Mm of his good name, and it has descended to 
 posterity surrounded by a cloudless lustre and unstained by 
 the impotent attempts to blacken and defame it. In his 
 volume of Eeports, and his charges to juries, and essays 
 may be read the fidelity, learning, and impartiality of the 
 judge and the luminous virtues of the man. 
 
 He died ]S"ovember 27, 1807, leaving descendants loved 
 and admired by the community. 
 
 JAMES BOSS. 
 
 The bar of the decennial between 1790 and 1800 was one 
 of marked character and ability. Foremost was James 
 Ross, a man of culture, erudition, legal learning, eloquence, 
 and forensic ability. In person an Apollo, with the propor- 
 tions of an Ajax, his mental was superior to his bodily 
 vigor. He was born in York County, Pennsylvania, July 
 12, 1762 ; his father being the Hon. Thomas Ross. 
 
 In the West we first notice him as a teacher of a Latin 
 school at Canonsburg, before 1784, under the patronage of 
 his friend, the Rev. Dr. McMillan, of pious memory. He was 
 led to study law by the recommendation of Hugh Henry 
 Brackenridge, then a prominent lawyer in the West. The 
 time of his admission to the bar in Washington County is 
 uncertain. He was admitted in Fayette County in Decem- 
 ber, 1784, and in Allegheny after its erection, December 
 16, 1788. 
 
 He became conspicuous for his eloquence, persuasiveness, 
 learning, and logical statement. To a fine manner he united 
 force and polish in his address, and soon rose to distinction. 
 Impelled by the circumstances of the times, he took a 
 lead in politics. They were full of excitement and inci- 
 dent, were calculated to bring out all the talent of the 
 day, and Mr. Ross became a marked leader. On the pre- 
 sentation to the people of the Constitution of the United 
 States for adoption, he was found among its able advocates 
 and defenders, and was ranked among the Federalists. In 
 the formation of the Constitution of Pennsylvania of 1790 
 he took a leading part. He strongly opposed the Whiskey 
 
Address to tJie Allegheny Ommiy Bar AssodaUon. 5 
 
 Insurrection of 1794, making a speech in opposition in 
 Washington, where he resided, of two hours' length. But 
 the fiery zeal of David Bradford, a leader in the opposition 
 to the government excise on whiskey, carried the people 
 with him, and they resolved to go to Braddock's Field, a place 
 of meeting of the insurgents. Defeated then, he resolved 
 to attend the meeting there. Historically the fact is well 
 known ; he appeared there, with Hugh Henry Brackenridge 
 and others ; hut his previous speech, his subsequent course, 
 and his well-known service to the government leave no 
 doubt of his purpose to be there to observe the proceedings 
 and not to be an actor, — a matter in which Mr. Bracken- 
 ridge was less fortunate, for his motive has never been clearly 
 vindicated, though much has been written in his defence. 
 
 A supporter of "Washington, Mr. Ross was on the 8th of 
 August, 1794, on account of his bold and open stand on the 
 side of law and order, appointed a commissioner to confer 
 with the insurgents. Judge Jasper Yeates and William 
 Bradford, attorney-general, were joined with him as com- 
 missioners. In this service he displayed marked ability. 
 To him Hugh Henry Brackenridge owed largely his escape 
 from a prosecution for high treason, for the apparent part 
 he took with the insurgents. 
 
 Mr. E.OSS was three times a candidate of the Federal 
 party for governor; but, Pennsylvania having followed 
 the fortunes of the Democratic party, he was defeated by 
 Thomas McKean in 1799 and 1802, and again by Simon 
 Snyder in 1808. It was during the last campaign this 
 femous couplet was repeated by the supporters of Snyder : 
 
 " Jimmy Boas, 
 He's a hoBs ; 
 But Simon Snyder, 
 He's the rider." 
 
 He was also a senator of the United States from 1794 
 until 1803. After his defeat by Simon Snyder, Mr. Boss 
 retired from politics and pursued his profession in the west- 
 ern counties, chiefly in Allegheny. In the latter part of 
 
6 Address to the AUeghmy Oownty Bar Association. 
 
 his life he became fairly wealthy from the rise in the value 
 of real estate of which he became a pretty large owner. 
 The court-house recently burned, the site also of the present 
 magnificent building, was erected on property purchased 
 of him. I remember well the high, close board fence 
 which separated his property from the remainder of Grant's 
 Hill, then open and the parade-ground of the militia and 
 kite-ground of the boys. His dwelling and office stood on 
 a rise, at about fifty or sixty feet eastward of the old Fourth 
 Street road. In these pages I shall refer to the numbered 
 " avenues" as " streets," as they were always known to me 
 and in the times treated of in these sketches. Prom this 
 office emanated a number of law students, among them my 
 school-companion and friend Cornelius Darragh. 
 
 Mr. Ross came occasionally into the court after I came to 
 the bar. I was so fortunate as to hear his argument in the 
 Supreme Court at September Term, 1830, in the Diamond 
 Court-House, before Chief-Justice Gibson and his associates. 
 The case was then a great case, — an ejectment for land occu- 
 pied by "West Elliott, at the mouth of Saw-Mill Run, opposite 
 the Point, — involving titles acquired under the State of Vir- 
 ginia while she claimed this part of "Western Pennsylvania. 
 The plaintiff claimed under General Hand, whose title 
 rested on a Pennsylvania warrant and patent and on two 
 Virginia entries. "Walton, under whom the defendant 
 claimed title, held also a Virginia certificate. The counsel 
 were W. "W. Fetterman, James Ross, John Kennedy, and 
 "Walter Forward. Ross spoke about half a day. Kennedy's 
 argument was as long as one of his opinions when he 
 became a supreme judge, a whole day, — and Forward spoke 
 less than two hours, making a most terse and lucid argu- 
 ment. Ross's argument was remarkable for its smooth and 
 polished periods, the beauty and finish of its delivery, as 
 well as for its cogency. 
 
 In the latter part of his life, though not then considered 
 intemperate, he occasionally came under the warming influ- 
 ence of wine. Then a peculiarity noticed by others, I have 
 seen myself, when walking he always took the middle of 
 
Address to the AUegheny Oownty Bar AssodaMon. 7 
 
 the street. My last recollection of Mm was when going 
 beside him, up the steps of the Bank of Pittsburgh from 
 Third Street. What led to the quotation of Pope's line I 
 do not remember, but as we entered he said, " Fools rush 
 in where angels fear to tread." 
 
 Mr. Ross was married to a daughter of Colonel George 
 Woods, of Bedford, a sister also of John Woods, the cele- 
 brated lawyer. She died September 14, 1805. He, himself, 
 died at Pittsburgh, November 27, 1847. 
 
 HUGH HENKY BKACKENEIDGB, 
 
 Contemporary and prior to James Ross lived Hugh Henry 
 Brackenridge, a noted man in his day. He was born at 
 Campbellton, in Scotland, in the year 1748. When he was 
 five years old his father, a poor farmer, emigrated to 
 America, and settled in the so-called " Barrens" of York 
 County, Pennsylvania. The son, a bright youth of energy 
 and force of character, by night-study and recitation to a 
 neighboring clergyman, acquired sufficient knowledge to 
 become a country school-teacher. Through saving and 
 industry he was able to reach Princeton College, teaching 
 two classes for his own instruction in others. He remained 
 a tutor for a time after graduation, and then took charge of 
 an academy in Maryland. Thence he removed to Philadel- 
 phia, studied divinity, and was licensed to preach. A writer 
 of ability, patriotic and pithy, he wrote for the United States 
 Magazine of Philadelphia. In 1777 he served as chaplain 
 in a Pennsylvania regiment of the Revolutionary War. 
 Afterwards abandoning divinity, he studied law with Judge 
 Chase, of the Supreme Court of the United States, and after 
 admission came to Pittsburgh, in 1781, reaching the head of 
 the bar before Allegheny County was erected, and after its 
 creation was admitted there December 16, 1788. 
 
 Elected to the legislature in 1786, he there advocated an 
 instruction to Congress to urge the free navigation of the 
 Mississippi, a fact which doubtless aided to influence Mr. 
 Jefferson afterwards in the purchase of Louisiana. 
 
 In the discussion upon the Constitution of the United 
 
8 Address to the AUeghemy Comdy Bar AssoeiaHon. 
 
 States he advocated its adoption, separating from his friends 
 Gallatin and Findley, who opposed it. 
 
 The most doubtful part of Mr. Brackenridge's life was 
 that during the "Whiskey Insurrection of 1794, when he ap- 
 parently sided with the insurgents. That he was a delegate, 
 met with the insurgents at Parkinson's Ferry and at Brad- 
 dock's Field, opposing the collection of the excise on 
 whiskey, and seemingly approving of their proceedings, 
 there is no doubt. But it is said his purpose was to prevent 
 excess and lead to a more prudent and peaceable mode of 
 redress. Yet after the arrival of the militia under Presi- 
 dent "Washington, with Alexander Hamilton, secretary of 
 the treasury, he was so strongly suspected by Hamilton 
 that he was marked by him for arrest. Then it was that 
 James Ross interfered in his behalf, explained to Hamilton 
 what he said was Brackenridge's true position, and averted 
 proceedings. Hamilton addressed a note to him stating the 
 suspicion and the final exoneration. Still the cloud rested 
 on him so much, his son. Judge Henry M, Brackenridge, a 
 man of fine genius, defended his course in a book upon 
 the "Whiskey Insurrection, intended as a vindication of his 
 fiither. 
 
 James Eoss, Judge Jasper Teates, and "William Bradford, 
 attorney-general, had on the previous 8th of August been 
 appointed by President "Washington commissioners of the 
 United States to confer with the insurgents, " in order to 
 quiet and extinguish the insurrection." The ill feeling 
 between Judge Yeates and Judge Brackenridge, when on 
 the bench together, probably was owing to the part Yeates 
 took in this commission. 
 
 Perhaps the true attitude of Mr. Brackenridge is exhibited 
 in his letter of August 8, 1794, to Tench Coxe, Esq., 
 recently published in the Magazine of Western Mstory. 
 From this letter, written before the marching of the troops 
 to Pittsburgh, we discover that he was a strong and even 
 bitter opponent of the excise system, believed the govern- 
 ment would be unable to suppress an insurrection of the 
 people against it, and was disposed to consider it as involv- 
 
Address to the Allegheny County Bar Assodaiion. 9 
 
 ing a general rising in the "West and tlie organizing of a 
 new government, including parts of "Western Virginia and 
 Western Pennsylvania and an unknown extent westward. 
 All this may not be incompatible with a desire to control 
 the movement of the people in favor of peace and the 
 authority of the government. Yet the purpose of the letter 
 seems to have been to delay force, in the hope, possibly, 
 that the movement would subside under a belief of final 
 repeal of the law and an abandonment of the excise system. 
 The following extracts from his letter will exhibit, at least 
 partially, his views and feelings : 
 
 " It will be said that insurrection can be easily sup- 
 pressed, — it is but that of a part of four counties. Be as- 
 sured it is that of a greater part, and I am inclined to 
 believe the three Virginia counties, on this side of the 
 mountains, will fall in. The first measure then will be the 
 organization of a new government, comprehending the three 
 Virginia counties and those of Pennsylvania, to the west- 
 ward to what extent I know not. This event, which I con- 
 template with great pain, will be the result of the necessity 
 of self-defence. For this reason I earnestly and anxiously 
 wish that delay on the part of government may give time to 
 bring about, if practicable, good order and subordination. 
 
 " But the excise law is a branch of the funding system, 
 detested and opposed by all the philosophic men and the 
 yeomanry of America, those who hold certificates excepted. 
 There is a growing, lurking discontent at this system that 
 is ready to burst out and discover itself everywhere. I 
 candidly and decidedly tell you the chariot of government 
 has been driven Jehu-like as to finances ; like that of Phae- 
 ton, it has descended from the middle path, and is likely to 
 burn up the American earth. 
 
 " Should an attempt be made to suppress these people, I 
 am afraid the question will not be whether you will march 
 to Pittsburgh, but whether they will march to Philadelphia, 
 accumulating in their course and swelling over the banks of 
 the Susquehanna like a torrent, irresistible and devouring 
 in its progress." 
 
10 Address to the AUeghemy Ornniy Bar Association. 
 
 As a writer, Mr. Brackenridge displayed marked ability, 
 indulging often iu a fine vein of humor. His " Modern 
 Chivalry," published in 1796, was widely read, and popular 
 estimate is seen in a new edition published in 1856. 
 
 In 1799, Mr. Brackenridge was appointed by Governor 
 McKean a judge of the Supreme Court of this State, in 
 which position he continued until his death, in 1816. At 
 the bar he abounded in wit and native eloquence, and his 
 knowledge of men and ready and fine address made him a 
 powerful and popular advocate. In person he was command- 
 ing and prepossessing in manner. As a judge he did not 
 display the high powers he had exhibited as an advocate. 
 His opinions were often racy, but not very profound ; while 
 his opposition to Judge Yeates (who, as before stated, was 
 one of the commissioners to confer with the insurgents) led 
 to frequent disagreements ; when, as the Reports often say, 
 " Brackenridge, J., agreed with the Chief- Justice." 
 
 Of the marriage of Judge Brackenridge a romantic story 
 is told. About 1790 he was on his way home from the 
 "Washington Court. At the tavern of a German farmer 
 named "Wolf, in "Washington County, he stopped to " bait" 
 his horse. Sabina Wolf, a daughter, in her bare feet, and 
 playing hostler, brought his horse to the door. He was so 
 much struck with her appearance that, after riding many 
 miles, his mind reached a conclusion, and he rode back and 
 asked the father for the girl in marriage. After some par- 
 leying, to prove his seriousness, consent was given, and they 
 were married. Mr. Brackenridge then sent Sabina to Phila- 
 delphia to be educated in ways polite. 
 
 JOHN WOODS. 
 
 Contemporary with Hugh Henry Brackenridge and James 
 Eoss was John Woods, an eminent counsellor of Pittsburgh 
 in the last and present centuries. Little material is found to 
 trace his life. Tradition informs us he was an able lawyer, 
 especially in real estate and ejectment cases. Yeates's Re- 
 ports, from 1793 onward, discover that he was engaged in 
 nearly every cause argued in the Circuit Courts of the Su- 
 
Address to the Allegheny Cmmty Bar Association. 11 
 
 preme Court, held at Huntingdon, Bedford, Somerset, 
 Greensburg, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Beaver. He 
 was undoubtedly in full practice before that date, as he was 
 admitted to the bar in "Westmoreland County in 1784, in 
 Fayette County in the same year, and in Allegheny De- 
 cember 16, 1788. 
 
 He was a son of Colonel George "Woods, of Bedford, 
 who, in 1784, under the authority of Tench Francis, the 
 agent and attorney of John Penn, Jr., and John Penn laid 
 out Pittsburgh. In this work George "Woods was aided by 
 his son, John "Woods, and Thomas Vickroy. A full account 
 of the transaction will be found in the celebrated Batture 
 case in 6 Peters's Eeports, 601-2. 
 
 The plan of Pittsburgh is often referred to as '"John 
 "Woods's plan of Pittsburgh." This is correct. Though 
 the authority was conferred on George "Woods, the plan is 
 certified thus : " A draught of the town-plot of Pittsburgh, 
 surveyed and laid out by order of Tench Francis, Esq., at- 
 torney of John Penn, Jr., and John Penn, May 31, 1784, 
 by John "Woods." " "Witness George "Woods, Peter Miller." 
 
 A daughter of George "Woods, and sister of John "Woods, 
 was the wife of James Eoss, Pittsburgh's eminent lawyer. 
 
 "Wood Street in Pittsburgh was doubtless named in honor 
 of the "Woods family. It is interesting, in this connection, 
 to trace some of the military occupants of Fort Pitt by the 
 names of the streets running from Liberty Street to the 
 Allegheny River, now the numbered streets. There was 
 "Marbury," after Captain Joseph Marbury; "St. Clair," 
 after General Arthur St. Clair; "Hand," after General 
 Edward Hand ; " Irwin," after General William Irvine ; 
 " Wayne," after General Anthony Wayne, etc. 
 
 John Woods at an early day built a very fine brick dwell- 
 ing on the square between Wayne and Washington Streets 
 and between Penn Street and the Allegheny River, the same 
 square now occupied by the buildings of the Pittsburgh, 
 Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railway. When I first remember 
 the house, in 1818 or 1819, it was occupied by Christian 
 Ferbiger, a prominent gentleman from Philadelphia, who 
 
12 Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar Association. 
 
 had been active in State affairs in the eastern part of the 
 State early in the century. It wae afterwards owned and 
 occupied by James S. Stevenson, a partner of Charles 
 Avery in the drug business, corner of "Wood and Second 
 Streets, and who represented Allegheny County in Congress. 
 The house was a double brick, with wings, situated in the 
 centre of the square, distant from Penn Street about one 
 hundred and twenty to fifty feet, and faced by trees and 
 shrubbery. During the occupancy of Mr. Stevenson, on 
 the 4th of July, 1828, a great Jackson meeting was held in 
 the rear of this square, next to the Allegheny River, pre- 
 sided over by "William "Wilkins, and addressed by Henry 
 Baldwin. I was present. Later the properly became a 
 tavern-stand and wagon-yard and a place of many public 
 meetings. I remember hearing there " Tariff Andy Stew- 
 art," of "Uniontown, and Senator John J. Crittenden, of 
 Kentucky. 
 
 Few, I suppose, now remember the duel, or rather shoot- 
 ing affray between James S. Stevenson and a gentleman 
 living on Wood Street, nearly opposite to Avery & Steven- 
 son's drug-store, whose name I have forgotten. It occurred 
 in the morning, on the inner porch of Ramsey's Hotel, cor- 
 ner of Wood and Third Streets. The frame of a door was 
 the only object hurt. 
 
 John Woods was married to Theodosia Higbee, who sur- 
 vived him, and removed to Trenton, New Jersey, where she 
 died in 1832. Mr. Woods was a Presidential elector in 
 1796 and a State senator in 1797, and represented Allegheny 
 County in Congress in 1815-1817. He died in 1817, leaving 
 a daughter, who married Judge Henry M. Brackenridge, 
 and brought him large wealth. 
 
 How little remains of this distinguished lawyer, so emi- 
 nent in his day, is seen in the foregoing very meagre sketch. 
 The following is found in the " History of Westmoreland 
 County," and is extracted, though with no knowledge of its 
 accuracy. The writer is said to have been George Dallas 
 Albert : 
 
 " The reputation of John Woods as a sHlftil lawyer was 
 
Address to the Allegheny Ommty Bar AssodaMon. 13 
 
 also high. His person was fine and his dress and manner 
 bespoke the gentleman, although there was a touch of aris- 
 tocratic pride about him, which lessened his popularity. 
 His voice was rather shrill and unpleasant, especially when 
 contrasted with his manly appearance ; but, like John Ran- 
 dolph, his ear-piercing voice often gave effect to a powerful 
 invective. Few lawyers could manage a case with more 
 skill. He was deeply versed in the subtlety of the law of 
 tenure and ejectment cases. Being possessed of a hand- 
 some fortune, he rather shunned than courted practice, but 
 in a difficult case the suitor thought himself fortunate when 
 he could secure his assistance." 
 
 STEELE SEMPLB. 
 
 Somewhat later than John "Woods came Steele Semple, 
 an able lawyer, eloquent advocate, and finished scholar. 
 Tradition says this much, yet his remains are so small and 
 vague it is impossible to describe him with fidelity. Tradi- 
 tion speaks of his legal attainments as immense, of his 
 scholarship as magnificent, and of his eloquence as grand. 
 Jjike Woods, with whom he was partly contemporary, his 
 largest practice was found in land-title disputes and the trial 
 of ejectments. His name is also frequently seen in Yeates's 
 Reports, and as in attendance at the Circuit Courts of the 
 Supreme Court in the western circuits of the State. He 
 was, with Henry Baldwin, a witness of the cowhiding of 
 Ephraim Pentland by Tarleton Bates, and with him signed 
 a certificate of the facts. In this way he became partly 
 identified with the duel which followed between Bates and 
 Stewart, in which Bates was mortally wounded and died in 
 a few hours. 
 
 Tradition represents him as of a convivial turn, often 
 tarrying over the wine-cup late at night. It is said that on 
 one night, after indulging in the pleasures of the glass until 
 very late, and being too much elated to walk in the right 
 line of sober directness, he started for home along Wood 
 Street, and, walking with erratic steps, fell into an open 
 cellar. There confined within the unassailable ramparts of 
 
14 Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar AssodaMon. 
 
 its walls, he lay shouting aloud, and from time to time cry- 
 ing, " De profundis clamaho!" until a night wanderer, late as 
 himself, passing, heard the cry, and released him from the 
 profound depth, in which he so resolutely shouted out to. 
 catch the passing, ear. 
 
 He had his own experience in litigation, under the will 
 of an uncle, carried into the Supreme Court ; and his case 
 gave rise to the rule laid down by that court, — " That words 
 which only describe the object devised give no more than an 
 estate for life ; but words which comprehend the quantum 
 of the estate pass the fee." The words were, " I devise to 
 my beloved son-in-law, Steele Semple, all my real and per- 
 sonal property," 6 Binney, 97. 
 
 He lived in, and probably built, the house which before 
 the great fire of April 10, 1845, stood on Second Street, 
 at the corner of Chancery Lane, next door to the Branch 
 Bank of the United States, and in which my father lived 
 many years as a tenant under James Ross, who in some way 
 claimed the property. 
 
 The following description is taken from the " History of 
 "Westmoreland County," p. 301. "What opportunities the 
 writer — said to be George Dallas Albert — had to enable him 
 to make the statements I know not : 
 
 " The great favorite of the younger members of the bar 
 was Steele Semple, who ought to be considered at the head 
 of the corps of regular practitioners. In stature he was a 
 giant of mighty bone, and possessed a mind cast in as 
 mighty a mould. Personally he was timid and sluggish. 
 As a speaker his diction was elegant, sparkling, and clas- 
 sical. His wit was genuine. He was at the same time a 
 prodigy of memory, a gift imparted to him to supply the 
 want of industry, although it is not every indolent man 
 who is thus favored. Mr. Semple was conversant with all 
 the polite and fashionable literature of the day, and was 
 more of a modern than his distinguished competitors. It 
 is no less strange than true that, for the first few years of 
 his appearance at the bar, his success was very doubtful. 
 His awkward manner, his hesitation and stammering, his 
 
Address to the Allegheny Cowniy Bar Assodaiion. 15 
 
 indolent habits occasioned many to think that he had mis- 
 taken his vocation. Judge Brackenridge, the elder, was 
 almost the only person who saw his future eminence. He 
 was unfortunately carried off when he had just risen to dis- 
 tinction. He fell a victim to that vice which unhappily has 
 too often overtaken the most distinguished in every profes- 
 sion. His fame had not travelled far from the display of 
 his powers, which is usually the case in professions which 
 must be seen and felt to be appreciable." 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS. 
 
 Among the distinguished lawyers of Pittsburgh in the 
 decennial of 1790 to 1800 was Thomas. Collins, a native 
 of Ireland, born in Dublin in the year 1774, so far as is 
 known. He received his education at Trinity College, Dub- 
 lin, where he was matriculated. He came to the United 
 States in the year 1790, soon reaching Reading, Berks 
 County, Pennsylvania, where he studied law in the office of 
 Marks Biddle, Esq., and was admitted to the bar of that 
 county on the 8th of August, 1794. In the same year he 
 came to Pittsburgh, and was admitted to the bar of Alle- 
 gheny County, December 3, 1794, soon after his arrival. 
 
 He quickly rose in practice, and became engaged in im- 
 portant causes, his name appearing frequently in Yeates's 
 and other early reports of cases decided in the courts of 
 Allegheny and in the western Circuit Courts of the Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 He was admitted to the bar of Beaver County at the first 
 term after its organization, in Tebruary, 1804, his name 
 being second on the list, following that of Alexander Addi- 
 son, and in company with Steele Semple, Alexander ~W. 
 Foster, John B. Gibson, William "Wilkins, Henry Baldwin, 
 and other celebrities of that day. He was one of the early 
 bar who rode the circuit of the western counties. Much of 
 his practice afterwards fell within Butler County, when, by 
 marriage, he became interested for the lands of his father- 
 in-law. Colonel Stephen Lowrey. 
 
 Mr. Collins was married twice. His first wife, Susan 
 
16 Address to the AUeghmy Comdy Bar Association. 
 
 Eead, to whom he was married September 28, 1796, was 
 a daughter of Collinson Eead, Esq., a noted Philadelphian in 
 the latter end of the last and the early years of this century, 
 who was an elector voting for "Washington when first chosen 
 President, also a compiler of a " Digest of the Laws of Penn- 
 sylvania," published in 1801. In 1806 he also published 
 " The American Pleader's Assistant," a valuable compila- 
 tion much in use in the early years of my practice. The issue 
 of this marriage of Mr. Collins was a son, Thomas Collins, 
 Jr., a cadet at West Point, and long a respected citizen of 
 Allegheny and Beaver Counties. Mr. CoUins's first wife died 
 at Pittsburgh in September, 1804. He next married, Octo- 
 ber 16, 1805, Sarah Lowrey, a daughter of Colonel Stephen 
 Lowrey, residing near Centreville, Queen Anne's County, 
 Maryland. "William Wilkins was his groomsman. 
 
 Colonel Stephen Lowrey, an Irishman by birth, and a 
 commissary in the Revolutionary army, was a gentleman 
 known in Western Pennsylvania as late as my day, dying 
 December 29, 1821. He was a large landholder in Butler 
 County, whose interests, often affected by the entries of 
 adverse settlers, made Mr. CoUins's professional services in 
 Butler frequently necessary. Colonel Lowrey's wife was a 
 daughter of Eev. Elihu Spencer, pastor of the First Presby- 
 terian Church of Trenton, New Jersey. He was also a 
 trustee of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. 
 
 From letters and documents in the family of Thomas 
 Collins, his relatives in Ireland were evidently persons of 
 culture and refinement. His father was a leading merchant 
 of Dublin, and in 1799 was appointed by the English gov- 
 ernment to a position of responsibility and honor at Domi- 
 nica, one of the Caribbee Islands. A tradition exists in 
 the family that he acted for a time as governor of Domi- 
 nica ; but there seems to remain no evidence of the fact. 
 John Collins, a younger brother, was a lieutenant in the 
 British navy, killed in action on board the "Alexander," 
 Lord Nelson's flagship, in the battle of AbouMr (the Nile), 
 August 1, 1798. 
 
 Thomas Collins died in the prime of life, February 17, 
 
Address to the Allegheny County Bar Assoda&m. 17 
 
 1814, at the town of Butler, and waa buried in the Catholic 
 hurying-ground, near to the town. His widow, Mrs. Sarah 
 L. Collins, came to Pittsburgh about 1819 or 1820, with her 
 children, Margaret, Valeria, Lydia, Sarah, and Stephen. 
 She was a lady of culture, highly esteemed, and admired 
 for her energy and her ejffbrts in self-support, and for the 
 education of her daughters. Stephen, her son, died early, 
 and was buried beside his father, at Butler. 
 
 The Butler County lands of Colonel Stephen Lowrey, 
 devised to her, came into possession in 1822, but at that 
 early day brought very little at sale or lease, compelling her 
 to put forth strenuous efforts to maintain her family and 
 station, — efforts, however, made successful by her force of 
 character. Her eldest daughter, Margaret, married Wil- 
 liam D. Duncan on the 17th of February, 1825. The late 
 Colonel John Duncan, of Altoona, was her son. After the 
 death of her husband, William D. Duncan, she married 
 John Wrenshall. Valeria married Evan R. Evans, a lawyer 
 from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of October, 1828. 
 In May, 1830, Mrs. Collins conveyed to her a valuable tract 
 of land of four hundred and seventeen acres, adjoining the 
 town of Butler, on which she lived, and died there Septem- 
 ber 18, 1833. This land was unfortunately lost through 
 proceedings on a mortgage given by her husband, who died 
 in Texas in 1836. Mrs. Sarah F. McCalmont, of Franklin, 
 Pennsylvania, widow of Alfred B. McCalmont, colonel of 
 the Two Hundred and Eighth Regime at of Pennsylvania 
 Volunteers, is her daughter. 
 
 Lydia, the third daughter of "William Collins, still living, 
 on the 17th of May, 1833, married William ]3. McClure, 
 Esq., a brother of Mrs. General William Eobinson, late of 
 Allegheny. He came from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, finished 
 the study of the law in the office of John Kennedy, after- 
 wards a supreme judge, and was admitted in Pittsburgh, 
 N'ovember 18, 1829. He afterwards became president judge 
 of the several courts of Allegheny County, an office held 
 until his death, December 27, 1861, presiding with great ac- 
 ceptability. Their daughter, Eebooca, is the wife of Judge 
 2 
 
18 Address to the Allegheny Cowrdy Bar Association. 
 
 Charles B. Flandre^u, of St. Paul, Minnesota, whose bril- 
 liant services in defending 'Eqw TJlm, Minnesota, in 1862, 
 against the murderous attack of the Sioux Indians, made 
 him conspicuous in the iN'orthwest, 
 
 Sarah Collins, the youngest daughter of Thomas Collins, 
 still living, on the 4th of December, 1834, married Wilson 
 McCandless, Esq., vrho was admitted to the Allegheny bar 
 June 15, 1831, and after an extensive practice in partner- 
 ship, first, with "W. "W". Fetterman, Esq., and afterwards with 
 "William B. McClure, Esq., his brother-in-law, became judge 
 of the United States District Court of the Western District 
 of Pennsylvania, in which he presided with dignity until his 
 death, on the 30th day of June, 1882. 
 
 Thus, though cut off in the midst of a busy life, the 
 name and reputation of Thomas Collins have been perpetu- 
 ated without stain or blemish by a family among the most 
 noted and esteemed of Pittsburgh's eminent and distin- 
 guished citizens. I write of them as one who knew them in 
 childhood's happy hours and in their earliest days in Pitts- 
 burgh. 
 
 WILLIAM WILKINS. 
 
 William Wilkins, contemporary with Brackenridge, 
 Woods, Semple, Collins, Baldwin, Mountain, and other 
 members of the old bar, lived until within the memory of 
 the present day. He was the son of John Wilkins, of 
 Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he was 
 born on the 20th of December, 1779. After graduating at 
 Dickinson College he studied law under David Watts, an 
 eminent lawyer of that day, remaining with him until his 
 admission to the bar in Cumberland County. He came to 
 Pittsburgh, and was admitted in Allegheny County Decem- 
 ber 28, 1801, his father, John Wilkins, having preceded 
 him as a resident of Pittsburgh in 1786. William Wilkins 
 was a gentleman of fine address and courtly manners, and a 
 fair lawyer, though he owed more to his suavity and finished 
 style than to the depth and strength of his intellect. His 
 impulses were quick, and his temperament unfitted for pro- 
 longed investigation or great labor, and he wearied of pro- 
 
Address to the Allegheny Gowrdy Bar AssociaMon. 19 
 
 tracted and severe effort. His mental proclivity led him 
 into politics, in which he became a leader. 
 
 At an early day (1806) he became a participant in a duel 
 between Tarleton Bates, prothonotary of Allegheny County, 
 and Thomas Stewart, a merchant, which grew out of a 
 quarrel between Bates and Ephraim Pentland. The politi- 
 cal feuds and animosities of that day had been raging at 
 their highest pitch. In 1805 there were three newspapers 
 published in Pittsburgh, — ^the Gazette, the Dree of Liberty 
 (edited by "Walter Forward), and the Commonwealth (edited 
 by Ephraim Pentland). On the 25th of December, 1805, the 
 Commonwealth contained a bitter attack on Bates. Bates, on 
 the 2d of the following January, cowhided Pentland publicly 
 on Market Street. Henry Baldwin and Steele Semple were 
 witnesses of the attack, and gave a public certificate of the 
 facts. Pentland challenged Bates, who refused to accept, 
 on the ground that Pentland was not a gentleman, and was 
 unworthy of such notice. Stewart, having, as Peutland's 
 second, carried the challenge, then challenged Bates. "Wil- 
 liam Wilkins became his second. They fought on the Chad- 
 wick farm, now Oakland, and at the second fire Bates fell, 
 shot in the breast, and died in about one hour. Bates was 
 very popular, and public indignation rose so high that Mr. 
 "Wilkins left the State and went to Kentucky, where he 
 spent over a year with his brother, Charles Wilkins, then 
 residing in Lexington. 
 
 A few years after his return, Mr. Wilkins, who was a 
 gentleman of taste and refinement, was led to build a very 
 handsome and expensive brick dwelling on Water Street, 
 where the Monongahela House in part now stands. The 
 undertaking was too much for his means, law practice not 
 then being so remunerative as in later days. This led to 
 an effort of his friends, in 1818, to induce the Bank of the 
 "United States to purchase or lease Mr. Wilkins's house as a 
 banking-house for its branch in Pittsburgh. Quite a con- 
 troversy arose pro and con^ and a large protest, signed by 
 leading citizens, was sent to the parent bank in Philadel- 
 
20 Address to the Allegheny Cownty Bar AssoddOon. 
 
 phia. The result was a failure, and the branch was located 
 on Second Street between Ferry and Market Streets. 
 
 The public spirit of Mr. "Wilkins led him to take part in 
 useful enterprises, such as turnpike-roads and manufac- 
 tories. The Bank of Pittsburgh, now known as the " Old 
 Bank," owed its origin largely to him. He was its first 
 president, beginning as a voluntary private association as 
 early as in 1810, and afterwards chartered in 1814, He 
 was fond of military display, and rose to a high rank in the 
 militia. He also represented Allegheny County in the legis- 
 lature. The election of 1820 led to a change of parties in 
 the State administration, and late in the night of the 17th 
 of December, 1820, and within two hours of the expiration 
 of Governor Findley's term of dffice, he appointed "William 
 "Wilkins president judge of the courts in the Fifth Circuit, 
 succeeding Judge Samuel Roberts, who had died on the 
 night of December 13, 1820. 
 
 Judge "Wilkins presided with ability. His mental opera- 
 tions, being quick, were adapted to great facility in the 
 despatch of business. He adopted a number of new rule's 
 of practice, which added much to this despatch. He con- 
 tinued on the Common Pleas bench until May 26, 1824, 
 when he resigned to accept an appointment to the bench of 
 the District Court of the United States, in the "Western Dis- 
 trict of Pennsylvania, succeeding Judge Jonathan "Walker, 
 then lately deceased. 
 
 In 1828 he was elected to Congress, but declined to serve. 
 Following this, in 1831, he was elected a senator of the 
 United States, and resigned the judgeship for a full term 
 in the Senate. In that body he took a conspicuous part. 
 As chairman of the Senate committee, he reported the 
 Force Bill, to meet the nullification measures of South 
 Carolina, xinder the lead of John C. Calhoun. In 1828 he 
 was a warm admirer and supporter of General Andrew 
 Jackson, and presided at a great Jackson meeting held on 
 the property of James S. Stevenson, in the rear of the lot, 
 and on the bank of the Allegheny River. In the Senate 
 he gave President Jackson his undivided support. Li 1834 
 
Address to the Allegheny (hmiy Bar Assodaiion. 21 
 
 the President appointed him minister to Russia. This was 
 his first lift out of straitened pecuniary circumstances. The 
 next lift was the rise in the prices of real estate, caused by 
 the inflation of the currency of the State banks after their 
 receipt of the deposits of the United States Treasury, re- 
 moved from the Bank of the United States. The removal 
 engendered a spirit of speculation. The deposit banks, full 
 to repletion, lent money freely, which was invested in the 
 purchase of real estate, and prices rose to an extent inviting 
 men of all kinds to invest in purchases. This condition of 
 affairs enabled Judge Wilkins, on his return from Russia, 
 which was in a short time, and before the bubble bursted in 
 the great bank suspension of May, 1837, to sell his Water 
 Street property for a high price. 
 
 In 1842, Judge Wilkins was elected to Congress, and 
 after the sad and terrible disaster caused by the bursting 
 of the monster gun on board of the "Princeton," in Feb- 
 ruary, 1844, he was appointed by President Tyler Secretary 
 of War, to succeed Secretary Gilmer, one of the killed by 
 the explosion. This office he held until March, 1845, at the 
 incoming of President Polk. 
 
 In 1855 he was elected to the State Senate from Allegheny 
 County. "When he came into the Senate he was seventy-six 
 years of age. The cause which brought him in and his 
 course in the Senate were exceptional. A generation of 
 men have passed away, and few now living are aware that 
 the temperance sentiment then rose so high. The Act of 
 April 14, 1855, entitled an " Act to restrain the sale of in- 
 toxicating liquors," prohibited all sales of liquors under a 
 quart, and provided that no license for the sale of liquors 
 should be granted to the keeper of any hotel, inn, tavern, 
 restaurant, eating-house, oyster^house or cellar, theatre, or 
 other place of entertainment, refreshment, or amusement. 
 It was sweeping, and blotted out all places where liquor was 
 commonly drunk. As a consequence, opposition arose from 
 the liquor interests, and a large fund was raised to secure 
 the repeal of the act, which was ironically called the " Jug 
 Law. " This movement brought into the Assembly a maj ority 
 
22 Address to the Allegheny County Bar Association. 
 
 for the repeal, among the number Judge Wilkins. He intro- 
 duced a bill of his own into the Senate, which, with the bill 
 reported by the Senate committee, became the foundation of 
 the Act of the 1st of March, 1856, repealing the Act of 
 1855, and becoming the basis of the liquor and license laws 
 until the Act of 1887. Much was told me by a leading 
 senator of the modes of procedure during the pendency of 
 the measure, but I shall not go out of the record to repeat 
 it. Perhaps my mind was drawn to notice the course of 
 Judge "Wilkins by an occurrence known to me personally. 
 During one of his professional visits to Beaver County, as 
 the counsel of the Harmony Society at Economy, following 
 the Count Leon secession movement of 1832, a temperance 
 meeting was held at the court-house ; Judge Wilkins, hap- 
 pening to be present, was called on for an address. In his 
 speech he remarked that he was temperate from the force 
 of constitution, — that he could not take even a glass of wine 
 without its firing his brain and unsettling his intellect. 
 
 Judge Wilkins was instinctively patriotic. He was a life- 
 long Democrat, and when the late rebellion rose, though 
 over fourscore years, he entered heartily into the cause of 
 the Union, taking a lead in inspiring the people with patri- 
 otic fervor. He appeared on horseback in the full uniform 
 of a general at a military review of the Home Guards. 
 
 He was twice married, his second wife being a Dallas of 
 the famous Pennsylvania family. Mrs. Wilkins (Matilda 
 Dallas) was a sister of Vice-President George M. Dallas, and 
 of Judge Travanion B. Dallas. The latter was a rising man, 
 but unfortunately died early, carried off by scarlet-fever. I 
 remember him well, as a gentleman of cordial and courteous 
 manners. He, with Walter Forward and Samuel Kingston, 
 examined George W. Buchanan and myself for admission to 
 the bar in 1829. 
 
 Judge Wilkins died at his residence (Homewood), in the 
 east end of Pittsburgh, June 23, 1865, aged eighty-six years 
 and six months. 
 
Address to the Allegheny Cmimiy Bar Assodation. 23 
 
 HBNET BALDWIN. 
 
 Among the distinguished men who marked the early 
 period of the har of Allegheny County was Henry Baldwin, 
 a native of New Haven, Connecticut, born January 14, 1780. 
 He was the son of a farmer, a man of strong intellect, and 
 the father of several sons who rose to eminence. One be- 
 came a member of Congress from Georgia, another ranked 
 high in Ohio, a third held ofl&ce under the United States in 
 New Haven, and the fourth is the subject of this sketch. 
 A sister became the wife of Joel Barlow, celebrated as an 
 early American poet and as minister to France. His chief 
 work was the " Columbiad," a patriotic poem. A brother of 
 Joel was Judge Stephen Barlow, of Meadville, Pennsyl- 
 vania, a large landholder in Crawford and Mercer Counties, 
 and a joint tenant with Mr. Baldwin in a number of tracts 
 of land. Another brother, Thomas Barlow, was long a 
 resident of Allegheny Town (City), and married to the 
 daughter of a brother of Commodore Preble. 
 
 Henry Baldwin was graduated at Yale College, and in 
 1830 received from his Alma Mater the degree of Doctor of 
 Laws. Having lived in the early part of his life on a farm, 
 he maintained and strengthened a vigorous constitution, 
 inherited from his father. It was his boast in after years 
 that he drove a cart for James Hillhouse in planting the 
 now famous elms of New Haven, whose spreading branches 
 arch the highways of the city. He studied law with Alex- 
 ander J. Dallas, then a distinguished lawyer of Philadel- 
 phia and attorney-general, and was admitted in that city. 
 An amusing event, happening to him while in Mr. Dallas'a 
 office, he used to relate with great zest. A large party was 
 given by Mrs. Dallas, to which Henry was invited. The 
 fashion of the time was to wear long hair combed back 
 from the forehead, tied in a queue behind, and powdered 
 white. Baldwin had gone to a barber, and had his hair 
 dressed in the fashion, in preparation for the great event. 
 On entering Mrs. Dallas's parlor he found his hair had been 
 drawn back and tied so tightly and his brows were elevated 
 
24 Address to the AUeghmy Oovmty Bar Assodation. 
 
 so high, he could not close his eyelids without effort, and 
 thus he spent the night with open eyes, suffering great 
 agony. 
 
 One of his brothers having settled in Ohio, he was led 
 to come West, but stopped in Pittsburgh, where he was 
 admitted to the bar April 30, 1801. Being a man of talent 
 and possessing a frame and vigor which suited the people 
 and the times, he soon became popular, and obtained prac- 
 tice. 
 
 The courts of the territory west of the Allegheny Eiver, 
 laid off into counties in the year 1800, were organized for 
 judicial purposes early in the year 1804. "We find his name 
 among the list of attorneys enrolled in Beaver in February 
 of that year. Afterwards he " rode the circuit," as the 
 phrase ran, over all the counties west of the Allegheny, 
 and was employed in the trial of many ejectments, land 
 actions then composing the principal litigation, owing to 
 the unfortunate legislation of the State in 1792, which 
 brought the holders of warrants and the actual settlers into 
 conflict ; a contest which lasted far into my own day. The 
 lawyers who practised in these counties for the most part 
 lived in Pittsburgh, and rode the circuit together. Among 
 Baldwin's companions we find John "Woods, Steele Semple, 
 Thomas Collins, Alexander "W. Foster, James Mountain, 
 and others. Baldwin was somewhat rough at that day, and 
 these were the occasions for practical jokes, in which he 
 was foremost. According to the custom of that time, 
 night found the company of riders at a country tavern, 
 unrestrained by order, with whiskey, cigars, and cards in 
 plenty, and this was Baldwin's opportunity. Tradition has 
 handed down tricks and practical jokes which will not bear 
 repetition in ears polite. 
 
 Among the earlier incidents of his life, I heard it said in 
 my youth, he had fought a duel, and his life was saved by a 
 Spanish silver dollar carried in his waistcoat-pocket. But 
 of this I can find no verification ; and it may have been a 
 rumor in some way growing out of the duel between Tarle- 
 ton Bates and Thomas Stewart, with which he and Steele 
 
Address to the Allegheny Oowniy Bar Assodalion, 25 
 
 Semple were measurably connected, being present when 
 Bates cowhided Ephraim Pentland on Market Street. 
 "William Wilkins was Stewart's second in that duel. Duel- 
 ling was not so uncommon then as now. Alexander W. 
 Foster fought with Major Roger Alden in 1800, at Mead- 
 ville, crippling him for life ; the duel growing out of a love- 
 affair, in which the wounded man carried off the prize. 
 
 Advancing years brought greater refinement, and Baldwin 
 ripened into a great lawyer and advocate. His powerful 
 frame and vigor of intellect enabled him to accomplish 
 much work, and to bring to his cases extensive learning, 
 the result of tireless study, and of the finest library in the 
 "West. His library was composed of all the English Re- 
 ports in law and equity, from the earliest period, including 
 the Year Books, imported from England, and all the then 
 American Reports of the principal States. Many of the 
 early English Reports, some in black letter, such as Har- 
 dress, Hobart, Keble, and others, and Coke's Institutes and 
 Lillies' Entries, were in the folio form. This library de- 
 scended to "W. "W. Eetterman in part, and from him to 
 Messrs. McCandless and McClure. What became of it all, 
 I never knew. "When a student in Mr. Baldwin's office I 
 often witnessed his method of examination, generally made 
 at night, however. In the morning I would find the books 
 piled on the floor open, face downward, and around a chair, 
 the pile often mounting two feet high. Sometimes there 
 were two and even three piles. During examination he 
 smoked incessantly, always having at hand a box of the 
 best small black Spanish cigars. His style of speaking was 
 not polished or finished, but strong and forcible ; his full, 
 sonorous voice giving emphasis to all he said. He was very 
 effective before juries, and was employed in all important 
 causes. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin was elected to Congress in 1816, and took 
 his seat in 1817, an J was twice re-elected, but resigned in 
 1822. He became chairman of the Committee on Domestic 
 Manufactures, and conspicuous for his able advocacy of a 
 tariff for the protection of American-made fabrics. The 
 
26 Address to the Allegheny County Bar Association. 
 
 War of 1812-15 had left the country in a state of extreme 
 poverty, and measures were essential to bring the indus- 
 tries of the United States into a state of activity. Then 
 the statesmen of the South, including John C. Calhoun, 
 were favorable to the protection of domestic manufactures, 
 not having discovered the peculiar interest of that section 
 in the export of cotton and return cargoes. A strong im- 
 pulse vs^as given to these measures by the part Mr, Baldwin 
 took in the passage of the protective tariff laws, especially 
 in that of 1820. 
 
 The period centring around the year 1820 was one of 
 great stringency, in which the leading business men of 
 Pittsburgh suffered largely, many to the extent of relief by 
 the insolvent laws. Mr. Baldwin suffered severely. He 
 had embarked in the iron business on Bear Creek in the 
 northeast corner of Butler County, had failed, and was 
 sadly straitened by the adverse state of affairs. That he 
 was encumbered largely the record shows ; but whether he 
 was relieved by the insolvent laws cannot be ascertained, as, 
 strange to say, no record of insolvents can be found in the 
 prothonotary's office of Allegheny County from 1818 until 
 1829, a period searched by myself. This search was made 
 in reference to the case of Anthony Beelen, as well as that 
 of Mr. Baldwin. 
 
 The case of Mr. Beelen is interesting as exhibiting the 
 former state of the law, and the expedient he resorted to 
 to avoid arrest. It occurred before the law authorizing the 
 giving of an insolvent bond had been passed. As the law 
 then stood the defendant arrested on a capias ad satisfaciendum 
 went to jail to await a discharge. But the sheriff could not 
 break the outer doors of a dwelling to make an arrest on 
 civil process, nor could he execute civil process at all on 
 Sunday. Mr. Beelen shut up and barred his outer doors 
 and windows. The backyard of his dwelling on Water 
 Street,^ between Wood and Market Streets, was protected 
 by a high wall. In this he placed as a watchman and guard 
 a tall, strong, and vigorous workman, taken from his foun- 
 dry, to prevent surprise by the sheriff when the family was 
 
Address to the Allegheny Covmty Bar Association. 27 
 
 employed in the yard. On Sunday his house was thrown 
 open, his friends were dined and wined, and he and his 
 family went to chapel. Thus the officer was held at bay, 
 until Mr. Beelen was either discharged or in some way ap- 
 peased his creditors. 
 
 In the Presidential campaign of 1828, between John 
 Quiney Adams and General Andrew Jackson, Mr. Bald- 
 win was an earnest and active supporter of the latter. On 
 the 4th of July of that year an immense Jackson meeting 
 was held near the Allegheny Eiver, on the rear end of the 
 John Woods premises, on Penn Street, then owned by 
 James S. Stevenson, member of Congress from Pittsburgh, 
 the same now occupied by the buildings of the Pittsburgh, 
 Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railway. The meeting was pre- 
 sided over by "William Wilkins, whose silvery voice pene- 
 trated distinctly to the outward limit of the great assem- 
 blage. Baldwin was the orator of the day, and spoke in 
 tones thundering far and wide, but not with the distinctness 
 of Wilkins's utterance. His speech was long and full of 
 points, covering about forty pages of foolscap. I copied it. 
 The campaign of 1828 was most bitter, the attacks upon 
 Jackson being greatly personal, requiring much to be said 
 in his defence. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin expected to be appointed Secretary of the 
 Treasury by General Jackson, with whom he was a favorite. 
 But policy dictated otherwise, and Samuel D. Ingham "waa 
 appointed fi-om Pennsylvania in 1829. Still Baldwin was 
 remembered by Jackson, who appointed him to the vacancy 
 on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States in 
 1830, caused by the death of Judge Washington. Here he 
 exhibited the immense learning his indefatigable industry 
 had acquired. The labor of his latter years was supposed 
 to have unhinged his mind, — so gentlemen of the bar of 
 Philadelphia thought. But my knowledge of his peculiari- 
 ties lead me to think this was largely a mistaken belief. 
 For example, a learned judge of Philadelphia said to me 
 there was no doubt of his insanity, for he had known him 
 to have a cup of coffee and cakes brought to him on 
 
28 Address to the Allegheny Cawnty, Bar Association. 
 
 the bench. These persons, probably, knew little of his 
 peculiarities and the inattention paid to punctilios in the 
 new country where Baldwin lived so long. , He often car- 
 ried confectionery in his pockets, which he dealt out to 
 the children liberally. An instance of conduct which 
 might be attributed to insanity occurred in Philadelphia, 
 when the late Walter Forward and myself were there as 
 members of the Constitutional Reform Convention, in 
 1837-38. We both had been his students, longos intervallos, 
 called by him " Forred" and " Dannel." We had called 
 on him at his hotel in Chestnut Street. He proposed going 
 to see Mrs. Baldwin, then visiting Philadelphia. Starting, 
 we turned into Eighth Street towards Market. Going a 
 short distance he stopped, went into a grocery, and came 
 out carrying a large ham by the hock. Proof conclusive of 
 insanity ! Yet none knew the contrary better than we. 
 
 It was in his circuit Judge Baldwin was seen at his best, 
 presiding with dignity, exhibiting his storey of learning, and 
 holding attorneys to good behavior. One of the noted trials 
 in which he sat was that of John F. Braddee, of Uniontown, 
 in 1840, for robbing the mails. Jhe most eminent mem- 
 bers of the Pittsburgh bar participated in the trial, — Cor- 
 nelius Darragh, Andrew W. Loomis, Samiiel W. Black, 
 Moses Hampton, Richard Biddle, Walter Forward, Wilson 
 McCandless, and others. The excitement of the trial was 
 great, waged as it was by these Titans of the bar. Tradi- 
 tion spoke of the strong hand of Judge Baldwin in which 
 he held the reins of power, and by bridled sway kept in 
 order men of so much character and force. 
 
 Perhaps the most noted case coming before Judge Bald- 
 win, and his greatest opinion delivered, was that of Magill 
 vs. Brown, found in Brightly's Reports, p. 347,— involving 
 the doctrine of charitable bequests to unincorporated socie- 
 ties. By his research and his laborious thought he brought 
 to the light the true doctrine of such charities, then much 
 misapprehended, in a way untrodden before in this State, 
 and redeemed them from the influence of English common 
 law, and the prohibition of British statutes; bringing them 
 
Address to the Allegheny Cmmty Bar Association. 29 
 
 into the favor and protection of equity. The opinion was 
 one of immense labor, and a work of love, to which the pro- 
 fession is greatly indebted. 
 
 Judge Baldwin had but one son, so far as I know, and an 
 adopted daughter. He died in Philadelphia April 21, 1844. 
 
 JAMES MOUNTAIN. 
 
 To the Irish nation "Western Pennsylvania is indebted for 
 some of its best early population, — men of stalwart frame 
 and hardy constitution ; vigorous in intellect, firm in prin- 
 ciple, religious in conviction, honest, determined, and in- 
 trepid, yet somewhat rough in manner. 
 
 These men came chiefly from the north of Ireland, whose 
 ancestors went over from Scotland, and were generally 
 known here as the Scotch-Irish. They emigrated to 
 America to find a home, liberal in religion, free from tyr- 
 anny, and exempt from heavy burdens. 
 
 Among the eminent men of this body of immigrants was 
 James Mountain. Born in the north of Ireland in the 
 year 1771, he received a liberal education there, became a 
 tutor in the family of an Irish gentleman, studied law, and 
 was admitted to the bar in his native country, and emi- 
 grated alone to the United States. The ship in which he 
 sailed was wrecked on the American coast, and with it he 
 lost all his possessions, leaving him without means. Coming 
 without companions, no one is now found Ho tell much of 
 his early life. 
 
 The first knowledge of him, in "Western Pennsylvania, 
 we possess is that, on the 28th of April, 1796, David John- 
 son and he were employed by the trustees of the Canons- 
 burg Academy to teach the Greek and Latin languages, 
 commencing on the 2d of May, 1796, at a salary, each, of 
 ninety pounds a year. In an advertisement of the trustees 
 of that academy, published in the Western Telegraph and 
 Washington Advertiser, dated June 9, 1796, we find the fol- 
 lowing account of Mr. Mountain : 
 
 "The characteristics and literary accomplishments of 
 Messrs. Johnson and Miller are too well known in this 
 
30 Address to the Allegheny Cburdy Bar Assodaiion. 
 
 county to need any recommendations. Mr. Mountain is 
 a young gentleman from Ireland, who, after lie finished his 
 education, has been in the habit of teaching for several 
 years, and has such an accurate knowledge of the Latin 
 and Greek authors, of their references to antiquities, and 
 such a perspicuous easy manner of communicating his ideas, 
 and, withal, is so attentive to the duties of his station, as 
 render him every way capable of filling the office of tutor 
 with respectability and profit." 
 
 On the 14th of November, 1796, an usher was appointed 
 to assist Mr. Mountain, whose salary was increased ten 
 pounds for the year. But the whole salary being inade- 
 quate, as Mr. Mountain thought, his services as an instruc- 
 tor in the classical department of the academy came to an 
 end in April, 1797. 
 
 How long he continued in Oanonsburg, and with whom 
 he studied law, if at all here, is unknown. He was ad- 
 mitted to practice in Washington County at E'ovember 
 Term, 1801, and in Pittsburgh, December 28th of the 
 same year. He was admitted also in Fayette County in 
 1802. He was one of the long list of eminent Pittsburgh 
 lawyers admitted to the bar of Beaver County at February 
 Term, 1804, of the first court held there. His name is fre- 
 quently seen in the early reports of cases in the Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 On the 24th of March, 1803, he married Agnes Gilkison, 
 a lady whose parents came from Virginia, and lived on a 
 farm near Pittsburgh owned by Henry Heth, her maternal 
 grandfather, and afterwards the property of Jacob Negley. 
 Having lost her parents at an early age, she was adopted 
 and raised by her aunt, the wife of General Adamson Tanne- 
 hill, in whose family she was found and courted by Mr. 
 Mountain. At one time, after their marriage, they lived 
 in one of a row of frame houses on the south side of Penn 
 Street, near to Cecil Alley. 
 
 James Mountain died early, September 13, 1813, when 
 only forty-two years of age, and was buried in the grave- 
 yard of the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. He 
 
Address to the Allegheny Goimty Bar Association. 31 
 
 left a widow, two sons, and a daughter. Susan , the daughter, 
 married James B. Morgan, Esq., of Morganza, Washington 
 County, and with her Mrs. James Mountain, her mother, 
 lived until her death, in 1859, at the house of James B. 
 Morgan, in Pittsburgh, who had removed thither from Mor- 
 ganza in 1832. 
 
 Morganza, a large domain, consisting of a number of 
 large tracts of land surveyed together, at an early day — 
 one of which is now the well-known site of the Pennsyl- 
 vania Reform School — was the seat of the memorable Revo- 
 lutionary Morgans, and was devised by Doctor John Mor- 
 gan to his brother. Colonel George Morgan, who came into 
 possession of it very early, and made it a home of hospitality, 
 refinement, and generous liberality. It was there Colonel 
 (once Vice-President) Aaron Burr visited Colonel Morgan 
 on his tour through the "West, when engaged in his purpose 
 of either Mexican conquest or disunion, — an uncertainty 
 yet not fully solved. And it was at the hospitable table of 
 Colonel Morgan, Burr, in covert terms, made known to him 
 his Western scheme. The proposition of Burr, how easy it 
 would be to detach the Western and Southwestern Terri- 
 tory from the United States, was scouted by Colonel Mor- 
 gan with scorn ; but in consequence of this visit and con- 
 versation. Colonel George Morgan and his two sons, John 
 and Thomas, were called to Richmond, Virginia, as wit- 
 nesses in the celebrated trial of Burr for treason, before 
 Chief-Justice Marshall, in 1807. 
 
 The sons of James Mountain were Algernon Sidney 
 Tannehill Mountain and William Mountain. Sidney, born 
 December 31, 1803, was a young man of great promise. But 
 being in straitened circumstances, by the influence of friends 
 he was advanced to the bar in 1821, at the early age of 
 seventeen. He speedily rose in his profession. The writer 
 remembers him well, and the public sentiment in his favor 
 before he had reached his majority. On the 1st of March, 
 1825, he married Eliza, eldest daughter of John Thaw, Esq., 
 then in the Branch Bank of the United States, on Second 
 Street. But the bright prospects of his life became clouded 
 
32 Address to the Allegheny GomAy £ar Association. 
 
 by an early death, which occurred on the 9th of August, 
 1827, when only in the twenty-fourth year of his age. Hia 
 widow afterwards married Thomas S. Clarke, senior partner 
 in the well-known firm of Clarke & Thaw, of Pittsburgh. 
 
 "William, the second son of James Mountain, I remember 
 well, especially when a member of the Pittsburgh Thespian 
 Society, to which I belonged. But after my departure from 
 Pittsburgh, in 1829, 1 lost sight of him. Susan, the daughter, 
 an amiable and attractive girl, became the wife of James B. 
 Morgan, as already stated. He was the last of the Morgans 
 who occupied Morganza, and is yet living at the age of 
 ninety-two years. His son. Colonel A. S. M. Morgan, is 
 stationed at the Allegheny Arsenal in Pittsburgh. 
 
 James Mountain was a dignified and polished gentleman, 
 and one of the most eloquent of Pittsburgh's lawyers. His 
 reputation for this splendid faculty descended to my day, 
 and was frequently spoken of The Hon. James Allison, 
 Beaver's oldest distinguished lawyer, in the early years of 
 my residence there, related to me the following circum- 
 stance : Mr. Mountain was employed to defend one James 
 Bell, charged with murder, to be tried at January Term, 
 1809. Owing to distance and bad roads, he had not been 
 able to reach Beaver from Washington, whither he had 
 gone, until the close of the evidence. Hastily learning the 
 leading points, he at once launched into his address to the 
 jury, and electrified and thrilled the audience to the highest 
 pitch of excitement by his eloquence and the pathos of his 
 tones. The prisoner was acquitted. Few men have left 
 behind them a higher reputation for that magic power which 
 at once persuades and transports an audience. 
 
 SAMUEL EGBERTS. 
 
 Judge Samuel Roberts was not a Pittsburgh lawyer, but 
 came from Sunbury, Pennsylvania, commissioned by Gov- 
 ernor McKean, April 30, 1803, to succeed Judge Addison 
 as judge of the Fifth Circuit, then composed of the coun- 
 ties of Allegheny, Washington, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, 
 and Westmoreland. In 1806 the Fifth Circuit was reduced 
 
Ad^ess fa the AUegheny Onmty Bar AasooiaMon. 33 
 
 by the withdrawal of Westmoreland. This continued until 
 1818, when the Fifth Circuit was reduced to Allegheny, 
 Beaver, and Butler Counties. 
 
 Judge Roberts was born September 10, 1761, in Phila- 
 delphia, of an old family coming over from England about 
 the time of the first settlement of Pennsylvania. He was 
 educated in that city, studied law under William Lewis, and 
 was admitted to the bar there in 1793. In the same year he 
 married Miss Maria Heath, of York, Pennsylvania, a lady 
 of refinement, well remembered by the old inhabitants of 
 Pittsburgh, where she lived to an advanced age. Mr. 
 Roberts removed to Lancaster, and practised his profession 
 there until he removed to Sunbury, whence he came to 
 Pittsburgh. 
 
 As a judge he was sound and highly respected by the 
 bar, though somewhat slow and indulgent in the despatch 
 of business. He continued on the bench until his death, 
 December 13, 1820. 
 
 He published a " Digest of Select British Statutes in force 
 in Pennsylvania," printed in Pittsburgh in 1817. It followed 
 the " Report of the Judges of the Supreme Court," made to 
 the legislature, was largely annotated by him, and was 
 highly useful to the profession. A second edition was 
 printed in 1847. 
 
 Judge Roberts left eight children, — five sons and three 
 daughters. His eldest son, Edward J. Roberts, was a pay- 
 master in the army in the War of 1812-15. He studied law, 
 and was admitted to the bar November 13, 1816. After the 
 erection of the Western District Court pf the United States 
 for Pennsylvania, he was appointed clerk, and held the 
 office for a long time. He was a local politician of some 
 note, but on what side I am unable to state, unless it be in- 
 dicated by a doggerel attributed to him at an early day. It 
 caricatured in verse a caucus said to have been held by James 
 Riddle and his followers. Riddle was a local leader and poli- 
 tician in the Democratic party in Pittsburgh. He had been 
 first a shoemaker, then a merchant, and was finally an asso- 
 ciate judge of Allegheny County, an ofilce he held for years, 
 3 
 
34 Address to the Allegheny Oonimiy Bar Assoda&m. 
 
 when the term was during good behavior, or for life. The 
 first verse of the doggerel ran something like this : 
 
 " In Pandemonium Beelzebub sat, 
 His imps and his devils around, 
 When at hell's outer gate came a terrible rap, 
 And all Erebus echoed the sound." 
 
 The remaining verses described the sulphurous proceed- 
 ings and fiery doings of the caucus in inferno. 
 
 Edward's eldest son, Richard Biddle Roberts, a precocious 
 youth, who, at the age of eleven or twelve years, performed 
 nearly all the duties of the clerk's office, owing to his 
 father's unfortunate habits, became distinguished for his 
 military services. He ripened early, but studied law more 
 lately, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. In the War of 
 the Rebellion he won distinction as colonel of the First 
 Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves. At the close of 
 the war he returned to his practice in Pittsburgh, became 
 United States district-attorney, and finally removed to 
 Chicago, Illinois, where he pursued his profession until he 
 died, two or three years ago. 
 
 One of Judge Roberts's daughters married Oldham Craig, 
 for a long time teller in the " Old" Bank of Pittsburgh. 
 He was a highly-respected gentleman, and a brother of 
 ISTeville B. Craig, an old-time lawyer of Pittsburgh, and 
 well-known historical writer, at one time editor of the 
 Pittsburgh Gazette. 
 
 Horatio K, a younger son of Judge Roberts, studied law, 
 and was admitted to practice in Pittsburgh in 1831. He 
 afterwards went to Beaver and practised there until June, 
 1840, when he was mysteriously shot at Clinton, Allegheny 
 County, while visiting the family of Mr. Morgan. 
 
 Samuel A. Roberts, another son of the judge, older than 
 Horatio, was a lawyer also, admitted in Pittsburgh, August 
 6, 1819. He lived and died in that city, a well-known and 
 highly-respected gentleman, but not largely engaged in 
 practice. 
 
Address to the Allegheny County Bar Assodaiion. 35 
 
 WALTER FORWARD. 
 
 Perhaps no member of the Pittsburgh bar deserved the 
 regard and was endeared to the people more than "Walter 
 Forward. Himself plain in manners, simple in tastes, un- 
 ostentatious in bearing, his heart was the well-spring of his 
 popularity. Few men were more noble and lofty by nature 
 or more genial and kind, inspiring all he met with high 
 appreciation. 
 
 Born in Connecticut in 1786, he came west in 1800, 
 brought out by his father, who settled in Ohio, beginning a 
 home in the woods, building his log cabin, and clearing his 
 farm as the early settlers did. The son possessed naturally 
 a rugged frame, not very tall, but broad and heavy, and 
 strengthened by work in the fields. He obtained his early 
 education in the humble country school-house. This he 
 increased by teaching at night. In 1803 he set out on foot 
 for Pittsburgh with the intention of studying law with Henry 
 Baldwin, of whom he had heard, and whom he fortunately 
 met in the street while looking for his office. He was 
 quite poor, but Mr. Baldwin, perceiving something in the 
 youth of seventeen which pleased him, took him by the 
 hand and helped him along. In 1805, being interested in a 
 Democratic newspaper called the Tree of Liberty, he secured 
 young Forward's services upon it. This afforded him 
 scanty means, and assisted him while pursuing his studies, 
 and he was admitted to the bar of Allegheny County No- 
 vember 12, 1806. 
 
 Being a young man of talent, indeed of genius, and 
 popular in his manners, he rose in practice, until the atten- 
 tion of the people was drawn to him as one fit to represent 
 them in Congress. He was elected to the House of Repre- 
 sentatives in 1822, following in the wake of Henry Bald- 
 win, whose business affairs had led him to resign. Mr. For- 
 ward was re-elected in 1824. While in Congress he entered 
 the caucus, then a common mode of nomination, and in 
 February, 1824, voted for William H. Crawford, of Georgia, 
 as the congressional candidate for the Presidency. The 
 
36 Address to the Alleghmy Govnty Bar AssodaiioH. 
 
 campaign of 1824, however, brought into it candidates more 
 popular, — Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, and John Quincy 
 Adams, — resulting in the election of Mr. Adams by the 
 House of Eepresentatives. The effect of Mr. Forward's 
 participation in the congressional caucus was felt by him in 
 his subsequent candidacy for Congress, and twice led to his 
 defeat. In the campaign of 1830, which I remember, Beaver 
 County being in the congressional district with Allegheny, 
 the caucus agreement was used against Mr. Forward with 
 effect. Though candidates on the same side, in Allegheny 
 County Harmar Denny's vote was 2711, and Forward's only 
 1180, one township to be heard from. In Beaver County, 
 however, Mr. Forward, who was always a favorite, was held 
 up, his vote being 2133, and Mr. Denny's 1799. 
 
 Unless Mr. Forward abandoned Mr. Crawford, he did not 
 vote for Mr. Adams in 1824, as has heen stated, but he did, 
 no doubt, in 1828, when the issue was between Mr, Adams 
 and General Jackson. He became a National Republican, 
 and afterwards a "Whig, when that party arose in 1832-33. 
 
 In 1836 he was elected by the people of Allegheny 
 County to the State Constitutional Convention of 1837. Jxl 
 that body he was not conspicuous at first, owing to his 
 natural repugnance to hasty conclusions. His early speeches 
 partook in a measure of the hesitation which led him to be 
 called " Walter the Doubter." An evidence of this cautious 
 reflection was often witnessed by myself. John Dickey, my 
 colleague, and I sat on the opposite side of the chamber 
 from the seat of Mr. Forward. "When the convention was 
 engaged in discussing important questions, Mr. Forward 
 often came over to our seats. He would say, " Dickey, 
 Agnew, how ought we to vote on this question ?" Dickey 
 was a county politician, — smart, but not deep, — and was 
 
 always ready to advise. I was young, only twenty-eight, 
 
 but, like young men, liiought I knew something. Perhaps 
 there was a better reason, — my name came first on the roll- 
 call, and I was compelled to keep the state of the question 
 in all its phases in my mind,— amendment and amendment 
 of the amendment, — and to make up my mind on its merits 
 
Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bo/r AssookiMon. 37 
 
 ready to lead off, — for we Btood 67 Whigs to 66 Democrats ; 
 and in every body there are members liable to be led astray 
 by the lead. Another feature made the lead important. The 
 convention was composed of three classes on the subject of 
 amending the constitution. About one-third was opposed] 
 to all amendment ; another third was conservative, but for 
 reasonable amendments called for by the people ; a third 
 class (all Democrats) was extremely radical; some would 
 elect all officers, judicial as well as executive, every year. 
 Being a conservative member, I was kept constantly on the 
 watch. 
 
 This characteristic of Mr. Forward was from no want of 
 ability to think, but the opposite. His mind was so com- 
 prehensive, and travelled so far beyond common thought, 
 he saw aspects of the subject not within common vision, 
 which led him to ponder well before deciding. The first 
 impression of the convention soon gave way, when it had 
 reached questions his mind had considered and pondered 
 well. From his inmost heart he loved liberty, and his soul 
 revolted against African slavery. "When the proposition to 
 insert the word " white" in the qualification of electors was 
 under debate, Mr. Forward spoke against it, bursting out 
 with a force and eloquence which electrified his auditors, 
 and many were present besides members. 
 
 I embrace this opportunity (the only one I have properly 
 had) to refute a slander. I voted against the insertion of 
 the word " white" in every form in which the question arose 
 directly. I voted for the whole section, which contained 
 some of the most important amendments made by the con- 
 vention. Malignant partisans and an erring divine have 
 made this the means of unwarrantable falsehood. A 
 
 In 1841, Mr. Forward was made first comptrojjcr of the 
 Treasury by President Harrison. In Septemoer of the 
 same year President Tyler appointed him~ Secretary of the 
 -Treasury, continuing until March, 1845, when Mr. Polk 
 became President. He then returned to his practice in 
 Pittsburgh. 
 
 In the month of August, 1847, soon after the death of 
 
38 Address to the Allegheny County Bar Association. 
 
 George Rapp, the head of the Harmony Society at Economy, 
 Mr. Eorward and I were called to draw up papers suited to 
 the change caused by the death of Mr. Eapp. We spent 
 the greater part of a week consulting and advising, and 
 finally drawing up documents to continue the society in its 
 proper relations, and to govern its affairs. I was draftsman, 
 while Mr. Forward sat by, reflecting and suggesting. There 
 were several documents written, one being what might be 
 termed a frame of government and method of procedure. 
 A circumstance occurred, drawing marked attention by us 
 both. 
 
 The preamble to this frame and course of procedure, as 
 first drafted by me, began by stating the death of George 
 Eapp, in the usual way, as in the ordinary course of nature, 
 and in the order of an all-wise Providence. The document, 
 after submitting it to the society for approval, was returned 
 to us, the person stating that the members highly approved 
 of it. " But," and here the spokesman paused hesitatingly, 
 "there is a little alteration our. people would like to have 
 made." He then stated an objection to the preamble in 
 rather a cautious way. Th^ result was the phraseology was 
 so changed that, instead of an ordinary death, it was said 
 that, by the decree of God, the venerable patriarch and 
 beloved founder of the society had-departed this life. The 
 drift was plain. Mr. Eapp had been regarded by the body 
 of his followers as more than an ordinary man, and his de- 
 parture differed from that of others. 
 
 In 1848, Mr. Forward took an active part in behalf of 
 General Taylor for the Presidency. He spoke frequently, 
 along with the Hon. Moses Hampton, on the subject of the 
 tariff and the currency, the former being his favorite theme. 
 He and Mr. Hampton had quite, to them, an unusual expe- 
 rience in Beaver County. Neither had been in the habit of 
 addressing anti-slavery men, and had given but little atten- 
 tion to their arguments. They were invited by the "Whigs 
 to speak at Fallston, in the vicinity of which anti-slavery 
 men abounded. In speaking neither had gone far until he 
 was assailed by a torrent of questions and statistics. These 
 
Address to the Allegheny Oovmty Bar Association. 39 
 
 freesoilers, headed by a noisy-tongued fellow named James 
 M. Gregg, had purposely assembled in force. It was not 
 long until Mr. Forward, and also Mr. Hampton, became in- 
 volved in a cyclone of anti-slavery figures and inquiries, and 
 soon made haste to finish. When we came away, Forward 
 said to me, " Agnew, what sort of people have you here ? 
 "Why, I never heard such a volume of stuff as they poured 
 out upon me." 
 
 In 1849, Mr. Forward was appointed by President Taylor 
 chargS-d' affaires to the Court of Denmark. He resigned in 
 1851, to take the ofi&ce of president judge, of the District 
 Court, to which he had been elected in his absence. Un- 
 fortunately for his constituents, and to the sorrow of the 
 bar, he sat in his high office only until the 24th day of 
 November, 1852, when he died, after a few hours' sickness. 
 
 Mr. Forward was married January 31, 1809, to Miss Eliza- 
 beth Barclay, a sister of Joseph Barclay, a well-known Pitts- 
 burgher in my youth. His board yard occupied the square 
 on which the St. Clair Hotel was afterwards built and the 
 Anderson Hotel now stands, on St. Clair or Sixth Street. 
 Harriet, another sister, was married to Thomas Perkins, the 
 silversmith, since county commissioner. A circumstance, 
 interesting to me as a boy, led me to notice these sisters. 
 
 At that time (about 1823 or 1824), as you descended the 
 steps on the west side of the northern abutment of the Alle- 
 gheny bridge (now Suspension) and passed in front of Gen- 
 eral "William Eobinson's garden and orchard, down the 
 green-tree-lined bank of the river, a few perches, you came 
 to a beautiful, gently-sloping, grassy sward, running down 
 to the first water-channel of the river, turning suddenly to 
 the right, around the head of the upper Smoky Island, then 
 filled with elders and alders and the blue-flowered iron- 
 weed, and with tall elms and sycamores. On this beautiful 
 grassy sod, and just around the turn, sat two ladies and 
 several children with baskets beside them. As I neared 
 them they were singing in sweet accord some of those ex- 
 quisite old Irish melodies, which then delighted far beyond 
 Italian quavering, high-strained airs, or Germania's harsh 
 
40 Address to (he AUeghe/ny Covmiy Bar Assodatiofi. 
 
 guttural songs. I stood, like Peter, afar off, and listened 
 till my heart was full. The time is long agone, sixty years 
 or more, and the scene is afar, yet I think I still hear the 
 simple strains of " Kitty of Coleraine" borne by two sweet 
 voices in delightful unison. Both these ladies died early. 
 They were Mrs. Forward and Mrs. Perkins. 
 
 Mr. Forward had several daughters and sons. One of 
 the daughters married Alfred W. Marks, Esq., a lawyer^ 
 and a son of General "Wm. Marks, a former senator of the 
 United States; another married "Wm. E. Austin, Esq., a 
 lawyer also. 
 
 Judge "White, in his valuable sketches of the " Judiciary 
 of Allegheny County," has truly said, " Judge Forward was 
 a great man, intellectually, morally, and socially. And, 
 like all truly great men, he was modest and unassuming, 
 candid and sincere; not envious or jealous ; rejoicing at the 
 success of others, and always ready to give a kind word or 
 helping hand to those starting in life. The religious ele- 
 ment was strong in his character, resulting in a life re- 
 marliably exemplary, pure, and spotless. He was emphatic 
 cally domestic in his habits, devotedly attached to his 
 home, and delighted in social enjoyments. His conversa. 
 tional powers were of the highest order." 
 
 In the early period of my practice in Beaver County Mr. 
 Forward often attended the courts there, and I had an op- 
 portunity of observing his traits and methods. Few men 
 treated the court and opposing counsel with more propriety, 
 even in the midst of exciting contests. His fairness and 
 good temper never deserted him when opposed by gusts of 
 passion. He was naturally eloquent, but not always even. 
 At times he seemed sluggish and unable to rise, which was 
 probably owing to his honesty of purpose that could not 
 soar without the wings of a righteous cause. At other 
 times his dark eyes would flash with piercing power, his 
 thoughts spring into vivid life, and, mingling argument with 
 metaphor, his heavy blows would strike out brilliant 
 thoughts, coruscating like sparks struck from the anvil's 
 hard breast by the arm of the brawny smith. 
 
Address to the Allegheny OomUy Bar Association. 41 
 
 He was one of my examiners for admission to the bar, 
 and I have ever remembered his kind encouragement, en- 
 abling me and my young associate, George W. Buchanan, 
 brother of the future President, to answer without embar- 
 rassment. A generation has passed away, but his memory 
 is still green in those halls where he so long moved and so 
 often stirred his audiences. 
 
 JOHN H. CHAPLIN. 
 
 This time the Green Mountain State contributed her gift 
 to Pittsburgh's noted lawyers. John Huntington Chaplin, 
 of Royalton, Vermont, was born there in 1782. His parents 
 were "William Chaplin and Judith Huntington Chaplin. 
 Mrs. Chaplin's brother, Samuel Huntington, was a signer 
 of the Declaration of Independence. John H. Chaplin was 
 graduated at Tale College, Connecticut, and came to Pitts- 
 burgh in 1805, where he studied law with Henry Baldwin, 
 and was admitted to practice IN'ovember 15, 1808. 
 
 On the 28th of June, 1809, he was married to Harriet 
 Craig, eldest daughter of Major Isaac Craig of the United 
 States army, and Amelia Neville Craig, only daughter of Gen- 
 eral John S'eville, then of Bower Hill, on Chartiers Creek, 
 iiear Pittsburgh. By this marriage Mr. Chaplin became 
 connected with two of the most distinguished families in. 
 "Western Pennsylvania. On the 25th of July, 1809, Wil- 
 liam Chaplin, his father, wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Craig a 
 very kind and flattering letter of congratulation, dated at 
 Bethel, near Royalton, "Windsor County, Vermont, and 
 bore testimony to the high character of his son. His only 
 regret was the great distance intervening, which made 
 strangers of both families. The date of this letter and that 
 of the marriage show that letters must have taken a month 
 to go and a month to come. This fact reminds us of the 
 advance, in our time, of all that relates to convenience in 
 travel, and to the unity and greatness of our country. The 
 news by telegraph would have taken less than an hour to 
 find its way over this widespread land, and by mail a few 
 days only. 
 
42 Address to the Allegheny Cownty Bar Association. 
 
 Jolin H. Chaplin resided on Water Street, below Ferry, 
 and next door to tlie house of David Logan, on the corner 
 of Water and Ferry Streets, his garden extending back to 
 First Street. Along Water Street, in this vicinity, lived the 
 principal families of that day. 
 
 A portrait of John H. Chaplin, painted in Boston, is said 
 to have been on exhibition recently in Gillespie's art-room, 
 on Wood Street, the queue and powdered hair denoting the 
 fashion of the early time. 
 
 Mr. Chaplin was at one time Worshipful Master of Lodge 
 No. 45, of Pittsburgh, an order of Masons chartered by the 
 Provincial Grand Lodge of England, December 27, 1785. 
 This lodge (45) celebrated its centennial in Pittsburgh De- 
 cember 27, 1885. 
 
 The purchase of Florida was made of Spain in 1819. 
 That country was supposed by many to be, as it was called 
 by Ponce de Leon when in search of the fountain of health 
 and beauty, the " land of flowers," and many Americans, 
 on its cession to the United States, emigrated thither, hoping 
 to find wealth and fortune, as well as health and pleasure, 
 within its orange-groves and ever-blooming plants. 
 
 Among these aspirants of hope was John H. Chaplin, 
 who moved to Pensacola in the year 1820. He there prac- 
 tised his profession successfully, and was in a fair way to 
 redeem the promises of his aspirations, when cut off by 
 yellow fever, August 24, 1822, just as he was about to 
 bring his long exile from home to an end, and to return to his 
 loved ones, whose separation from him had been a constant 
 sorrow. 
 
 Mr. Chaplin left a wife and two children, — one a son, 
 William Craig Chaplin, who became a lieutenant in the 
 United States navy, and married Sarah G., a daughter of 
 James Crossan; the other, a daughter, Amelia Neville 
 Chaplin (now a widow), who married Thomas L. Shields, 
 Esq., of Sewiekley, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1832. John 
 M. Chaplin, manager of the Pittsburgh Clearing-House, is 
 a son of Lieutenant William C. Chaplin. 
 
Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar Association. 43 
 
 NEVILLE B. CKAIG. 
 
 This name, like thoughts from dreamland, or far-off 
 music's strains, rouses memories of the long past, when 
 Fort Pitt was the scene of great deeds, and when the head 
 of the Ohio was the ultima Thule of early settlement, made 
 famous by a long array of brilliant names, the Revolu- 
 tionary generals, Hand, Butler, Mcintosh, Broadhead, Ir- 
 vine, and officers of less degree, and many eminent men 
 from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, brought hither 
 by the exigency of the times, who made Pittsburgh lumin- 
 ous by their lives, their talents, and their virtues. Here 
 were found the Ifevilles, Morgans, Butlers, Kirkpatricks, 
 O'Hara, Tannehill, Denny, "Wilkins, Addison, Eoss, "Woods, 
 Semple, and a host of worthies, the fragrance of whose 
 memories clings to the tradition of their names. Even in 
 my day some survived, but nearly all had gone to rest in 
 the old graveyard of the Presbyterian Church. I remember 
 the funeral procession of General James O'Hara, crossing 
 "Wood Street at Fourth, in December, 1819. 
 
 Among the eminent men of the " olden time" was the 
 father of Neville B. Craig, Major Isaac Craig. He was 
 born near Hillsborough, County Down, northeastern coast 
 of Ireland, in the year 1741, and emigrated to America in 
 1765. At the beginning of the Eevolutionary war he took 
 up arras in defence of his adopted country's rights, deter- 
 mined to lay them down only with his life or the establish- 
 ment of freedom. In iN'ovember, 1775, he was appointed a 
 first lieutenant of marines in the navy, and served ten months 
 in that capacity, on board the " Andrew Doria," command- 
 ing marines. This vessel formed one of the squadron of 
 Commodore Hopkins, which captured Forts Nassau and 
 Montague, on the Island of New Providence, in the "West 
 Indies. The governor himself was captured, together with 
 many valuable stores, then much needed by the Americans, 
 and subsequently used in Rhode Island and on the Delaware. 
 Of these a minute inventory was made by Lieutenant Craig. 
 On return to harbor, in October, 1776, he was commissioned 
 
44 Address to the AUeghemy Gownty Bar AssodaMon. 
 
 captain. In November following the marines were ordered 
 into the army as infantry, and performed artillery duty. He 
 was commissioned in March, 1777, a captain of artillery, 
 under command of Colonel Proctor. On the promotion of 
 Major Ford to the lieutenant-colonelcy, Captain Craig was 
 entitled to the majority, but through misinformation, caused 
 by his absence at sea, the Supreme Executive Council ap^ 
 pointed Captain Andrew Porter to the vacancy. This led; 
 to a strong letter of protest on the part of Captain Craig, 
 dated at Philadelphia February 21, 1782. The council re- 
 considered and revoked the order, and conferred priority of 
 commission as major on Captain Craig, in the Fourth Regi- 
 ment of Artillery, annexed by resolution of Congress to the 
 Pennsylvania Line. He partook in a number of battles, 
 among them Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth, and Brandy- 
 wine. 
 
 He was ordered to Fort Pitt to join General Clark in an 
 intended expedition against Detroit, which, however, failed, 
 to take place. At Fort Pitt he performed various services 
 to the satisfaction of the government, and became noted for 
 his energy, activity, and integrity. During his service at 
 Fort Pitt he availed himself of the land laws of the State by 
 taking up some valuable tracts of land. In 1797 he and 
 General James O'Hara built the first glass-works erected in 
 "Western Pennsylvania, preceding those of Albert Gallatin 
 at Brownsville a few months. 
 
 On the 1st of February, 1785, he was married to Amelia, 
 only daughter of General John Neville, then living at Bower 
 Hill, on the Chartiers Creek, and became the father of a 
 numerous family, some of whom followed the military in- 
 stinct of their father. Percy Hamilton Craig was senior 
 surgeon of the United States army, and medical director 
 under General Zachary Taylor in Mexico. Henry Knox 
 Craig was general and chief of ordnance. United States 
 army, and Isaac Eugene Craig, lieutenant in the engineer 
 corps of the United States. Some lived until a very recent 
 period. Oldham Craig, a well-known Pittsburgher, died Oc- 
 tober 4, 1874, on his way to Florence, Italy, to visit a son. 
 
Address to the Allegheny Oomdy Bar Association. 45 
 
 Amelia Neville Craig died October 27, 1879. 
 
 Major Isaac Craig himself died on Montours Island May 
 4, 1825. 
 
 On his mother's side Neville B. Craig was related, through 
 her father. General John Neville, to one of the most distin- 
 guished families in England and America. The Nevilles 
 in America settled in Virginia. General Neville was born 
 there, and at one time lived in Frederick County. He 
 bought land on Chartiers Creek when "Western Pennsyl- 
 vania was claimed by Virginia, and within the bounds of 
 Augusta County, as erected by Virginia. From that county, 
 in 1774, he was elected a delegate to a Provincial Conven- 
 tion of Virginia. Augusta County then embraced a large 
 part of the present territory of Allegheny County. 
 
 In 1777, General Neville and General George Morgan 
 were at Fort Pitt together, charged with important public 
 duties. They joined in a- letter in that year to Patrick 
 Henry, governor of Virginia, giving a minute detail of the 
 condition of the "Western country in relation to the tribes 
 of Indians then incited to war against the colonists by Great 
 Britain. 
 
 After his removal to Pennsylvania, General Neville was 
 a member of the Supreme Executive Council in the years 
 1785 and 1786. His residence was onhis farm on Chartiers 
 Balled "Bower Hill," about seven miles from Pittsburgh, 
 near to the road from Pittsburgh to "Washington. He had 
 resided a short time at a place called "Woodville, nearly 
 opposite Bower Hill. In my boyhood Bower Hill was 
 owned by Christopher Cowan, who was building a large 
 brick dwelling on "Water Street, below Evans Alley. "While 
 thus engaged a workman offended him. Cowan, who felt 
 his importance, asked him if he did not know the owner of 
 the building. " Sure an' I do," replied the Irishman ; " it's 
 Christy Cooen, — Christy Cooen the nailor." John Wren- 
 shall afterwards became owner of the farm. "Wrenshall 
 was a church-member, son of a worthy Methodist clergy- 
 man, but sharp, shrewd at a deal, while his white flowing 
 beard gave him a venerable appearance. 
 
46 Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar Association. 
 
 "While residing at Bower Hill General Neville was in- 
 spector of the United States excise revenue, having his 
 office there, and then at Pittsburgh. The "Whiskey Insur- 
 rection of 1794 involved him in great unpopularity, and 
 led to two attacks upon his house, the first being repelled 
 by arms and loss of life to the insurgents ; the second, by a 
 larger number of insurgents, being successful, and ending 
 in the burning of his dwelling, then the finest in the West, 
 and all its out-houses. The general himself was not at 
 home. 
 
 General Neville and Major Abraham Kirkpatrick married 
 sisters named Oldham, relatives of Colonel "William Old- 
 ham, and belonging to a noted Virginia family. General 
 Neville died on the 29th of July, 1803, and was buried in 
 the old graveyard of the First Presbyterian Church, which 
 was uprooted not long ago, with all its cherished memories 
 of the olden time, and the bones of its occupants removed, 
 to make way for a building to be used as a parlor, reception- 
 room, and Sunday-school. My opinion of this act of van- 
 dalism was expressed in a dissent to the opinion of the 
 Supreme Court of this State. 
 
 Neville B. Craig, descended from this worthy line of an- 
 cestors, was born in the Colonel Boquet Redoubt, on the 
 29th day of March, 1787. He was educated at the Pitts- 
 burgh Academy, and graduated also at Princeton College ; 
 studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Allegheny 
 County August 13, 1810, and opened an office in Pittsburgh 
 while it was a borough. His practice embraced a number 
 of cases in which Richard Biddle was also concerned. As 
 to some of these Mr. Biddle wrote to him from London in 
 a letter dated December 10, 1828. Two of these cases were 
 the celebrated case of John McDonald, whose house on 
 "Water Street, at the foot of Liberty, was cut down from a 
 square to a pentagon, because it encroached on "Water 
 Street, and the still more widely-known Batture case 
 ("Water Street), decided in favor of their clients, the city of 
 Pittsburgh, in the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 In 1829, Mr. Craig became the owner and editor of the 
 
Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar AssodaHon, 47 
 
 Pittsburgh Gazette, which he converted into the first daily in 
 Pittsburgh, continuing until 1841, when he disposed of his 
 interest. As an editor he was bold and successful, always 
 holding the pen with a firm and consistent hand, and de- 
 voting his vigorous powers to the best interests of the city 
 of his birth and his country. 
 
 Possessing a large amount of traditionary lore, and fond 
 of historical subjects, he next published the " Olden Time," 
 a monthly periodical, commenced in January, 1846, and 
 continued until December, 1847. His chief purpose was 
 to preserve and disseminate early important documents and 
 papers relative to the "West, and especially to the head of the 
 Ohio. With him it was a work of love, in which he labored 
 with assiduity and ardor, and collected in two volumes of 
 the " Olden Time" many scarce and valuable records, and 
 preserved many interesting events, which else had not 
 reached the eyes of the general public. But in this, as often 
 in other efforts for the benefit of mankind, that public failed 
 to prize the value of this contribution to the interests of 
 history and of the city itself. 
 
 Mr. Craig was a forcible writer, often pungent and severe. 
 He was one of the noli-me-iangere sort, whose shield it was 
 unsafe to strike with the lance's point. He returned blow 
 for blow, with interest, having not only strong convictions, 
 but the courage to back them. 
 
 He was the author of several historical works, one of them 
 a " History of Pittsburgh." Pittsburgh and the "West owe 
 much to his spirit of inquiry and literary labors, constituting 
 a rich mine for the future reader and historian. 
 
 He was solicitor of the city of Pittsburgh from 1821 
 until 1829. In March, 1822, he formed a partnership with 
 the Hon. Walter Forward, lasting several years. 
 
 He married Jane Fulton, May 1, 1811, and died March 3, 
 1863. Isaac Craig, the well-known writer, now living in 
 Allegheny, is his son. To him I am indebted for many in- 
 teresting facts as materials for these sketches. 
 
48 Address to the AUeghmiy Cowaty Bar Association. 
 
 CHARLES SHALBR. 
 
 Connecticut has given to the bar of Allegheny County 
 several talented and loyal sons. One of these was Charles 
 Shaler, born in that State in 1788, and graduated from Yale. 
 He went to Ravenna, Ohio, in the year 1809, to attend to 
 lands owned by his father, who was one of the commis- 
 sioners to lay off the Connecticut Reserve, generally known 
 as the "Western Reserve. There he studied law, and was 
 admitted to the bar. In 1813 he came to Pittsburgh and 
 was admitted here. He soon obtained practice and became 
 prominent in politics, first as a Federalist, and next as a 
 Ifational Republican. His first office was as judge of the 
 Recorder's Court of Pittsburgh, presiding from 1818 until 
 1821, He next was commissioned, June 5, 1824, following 
 Judge Wilkins, as president judge of the courts in the Fifth 
 Judicial District, composed of the counties of Allegheny, 
 Beaver, and Butler, resigning May 4, 1835, and returning 
 to practice. 
 
 Previous to the Presidential election of 1832, he had been 
 a National Republican ; but anti-masonry, having reached 
 the western counties of Pennsylvania from Buffalo, New 
 York, about 1830, continued to make progress, and in 1832 
 had drawn in a large number of votes in the three counties 
 in which he presided. During this time the Statesman was 
 edited by John B. Butler, a friend and fellow Freemason 
 of Shaler. Butler was a violent anti-Jackson man in the 
 campaign of 1828, and had brought out the coffin hand-bills, 
 first printed by John Binns, of Philadelphia, and posted 
 them on the front of the Statesman's office, a small one or 
 one-and-a-half story frame building on the corner of "Wood 
 and Fourth Streets. These hand-bills represented the deaths 
 and coffins of John Woods, and the six Tennessee militia- 
 men, shot by the order of General Jackson. Butler circu- 
 lated these largely. At this time Charles Shaler and other 
 Adams men stood beside John B. Butler, strong, indeed 
 violent, in their opposition to Jackson. But in 1832, anti- 
 masonry having acquired strength in this region, Moses Sul- 
 
Address to the AUeghmy Comdy Bar Assoaiation. 49 
 
 livan, of Butler County, being elected to the Senate of 
 Pennsylvania on that ticket, the anti-masons voted for "Wil- 
 liam Wirt for the Presidency. Henry Clay was the candi- 
 date of the National Republicans. But owing to the number 
 of candidates opposing Jackson in 1832, many counties Avere 
 scarce of electoral tickets. They were scarce in Beaver 
 County, many National Eepublicans there voting for "Wil- 
 liam "Wirt in consequence. Presumably Butler, Shaler, and 
 other Adams men voted for Clay, but they voted for George 
 "Wolf in opposition to Joseph Ritner, the anti-masonic can- 
 didate. The election of Joseph Ritner, in 1835, and the 
 crusade of Thaddeus Stevens against masonry settled the 
 matter with many masons ; and Shaler, Butler, and some 
 other Adams and Clay masons in the West, became Demo- 
 crats, voting for David R. Porter, in 1838, against Ritner. 
 Shaler ever remained a Democrat. Butler was rewarded by 
 an appointment at the United States Arsenal in Lawrence- 
 ville. Shaler never sought political elevation, but he took 
 an active part, and became an acknowledged leader of the 
 Democracy in Allegheny County. 
 
 In 1841, Charles Shaler was appointed, May 6, associate 
 judge of the District Court of Allegheny County, and held 
 the office until May 20, 1844, when he resigned and returned 
 to the practice of his profession, in which he continued until 
 his eyesight failed. He retired, esteemed and respected by 
 his fellow-citizens as a gentleman and a lawyer and advo- 
 cate of high character, unstained integrity, and unblemished 
 honor. 
 
 As a lawyer and judge he was brilliant rather than solid. 
 His mind was quick and subtle, his language chaste and 
 exuberant, and his elocution pleasing, though slightly broken 
 by a partial stutter, a quality making his racy humor often- 
 times more effective. In his earlier days on the bench, the 
 litigation in Beaver and Butler Counties was largely between 
 the warrantees and the settlers, involving land-titles and 
 questions of survey. The latter he professed not to under- 
 stand. Indeed, his mind did not take cordially to the dry 
 details of courses, distances, corners, blazes, blocks, and 
 4 
 
50 Address to the AUeghmy Ckmniy Bar AssodaMon. 
 
 variation of the compass. In regard to land-titles of the 
 peculiar kind in these western counties his decisions were 
 not always affirmed by the Supreme Court. I remember a 
 case in Butler County in 1830, a settlement on warranted 
 and surveyed land, in which he ran so strongly to the set- 
 tler's side he pledged his reputation as a lawyer that the 
 settlement would be supported on a view he took, somewhat 
 novel and contrary to the current of decision. Unfortu- 
 nately for his pledge, he was reversed. 
 
 On the creation of the Seventeenth Judicial District, in 
 the winter of 1831, Beaver and Butler Counties were with- 
 drawn from the Fifth District, leaving Allegheny County 
 remaining the Fifth alone. 
 
 During the War of 1812-15, and while he continued in 
 Ohio, some disloyal expressions were attributed to him, 
 which were repeated against him after he came to Pitts- 
 burgh. But they were doubtless the foolish ebullitions of 
 youth, or of hasty rashness. They never lost him favor in 
 the city of his adoption. 
 
 Judge Shaler was twice married; the first time to a 
 daughter of Major Abraham Kirkpatrick. The issue of 
 this marriage was two sons and three daughters. His 
 second wife was Miss Mary Ann Riddle, a daughter of 
 James Eiddle, long time an associate judge of Allegheny 
 County, and in his day a noted local politician. His court- 
 ship of this lady being known in Beaver caused occasional 
 amusement at the judge's expense ; it being observed that 
 in his haste to return to Pittsburgh he often ended the 
 court on Wednesday or Thursday on the plea of an im- 
 portant engagement at home. This was true, and his en- 
 gagement ended in marriage. 
 
 Judge Shaler, after the loss of his eyesight, went to reside 
 in Bellefonte, Centre County, but being called by the illness 
 of his daughter, the wife of the Rev. Mr. Hodges, to New- 
 ark, New Jersey, in the winter season, he took a violent 
 cold, became ill, and died there, March 5, 1869. 
 
Address to the AUeghmy Ckmnty Bar AssodaHon. 51 
 
 KICHAED BIDDLE. 
 
 The bar of Pittsburgh bad long been distinguished for 
 its ability. When Richard Biddle entered it he added an- 
 other eminent and highly-prized name to its galaxy of bril- 
 liant stars. He was one of the younger sons of a large 
 family of boys, born to Charles and Hannah Biddle, of 
 Philadelphia, a family distinguished in the public service, 
 and esteemed in private life for talent and high qualities. 
 The army and navy had lustre from their service, and the 
 bar derived no less reputation from their ability and emi- 
 nence. 
 
 Richard Biddle was born in Philadelphia, March 25, 1796. 
 In the "War of 1812-15, though quite young, he joined the 
 "Washington Guards, seeing some service near "Wilmington, 
 Delaware, and in 1813 became an ensign in the Guards, 
 under the command of General Thomas Cadwalader, at 
 Camp Dupont, remaining in service until December, 1814. 
 
 He read law with "William S. Biddle, an elder brother, 
 and was admitted to practice in Philadelphia in 1817. In 
 the same year he came to Pittsburgh, was admitted Novem- 
 ber 10, 1817, and soon rose to eminence. One of his first 
 cases was the prosecution of John Tiernan, who was con- 
 victed of murder in the first degree, and hanged in the 
 hollow of Suke's Riin, at the foot of Boyd's Hill, a few 
 yards above the stone culvert over which Second Street 
 (Avenue) then crossed. After this Mr. Biddle pursued his 
 practice with diligence and labor, rising at every step until 
 1827, when he retired from the bar for a time to visit 
 England. 
 
 He resided in London several years, pursuing favorite 
 studies in the public library of that city, at the same time 
 visiting the courts and keeping up his relish for legal pro- 
 ceedings. "While in London he wrote the life of " Sebas- 
 tian Cabot," a work, it was said, of great labor and re- 
 search. For reasons now unknown he became dissatisfied 
 with his eflrart, and (as I heard after his return to Pittsburgh) 
 bought up and suppressed the edition so far as possible. 
 
52 Address to the Allegheny Oomdy Bar Association. 
 
 Whether any copies reached Pittsburgh I am not informed. 
 On his return, in 1832, he recommenced the practice with 
 his usual diligence and ability. 
 
 During his absence Mr. Biddle was not unmindful of his 
 law business. To his friend, Neville B. Craig, he wrote a 
 long letter on various subjects. Among matters of busi- 
 ness he referred to the John Wilkins estate, on which he 
 administered ; to the Batture or "Water Street case of Pitts- 
 burgh ; to the case of the Commonwealth vs. John Mc- 
 Donald, and other causes in which he had been employed 
 as counsel. The letter is dated London, December 10, 1828. 
 In 1837 he was elected a representative in Congress from 
 the Allegheny District, and was re-elected. He served in 
 Congress with distinction, recognized by his fellow-members 
 as a gentleman of high character and eminent ability, and 
 served also to the satisfaction of his constituents, and to 
 their regret resigned in 1840. The bar was his true sphere, 
 and he felt out of his proper atmosphere in Congress, where 
 sound argument and eminent statesmanship were too often 
 disregarded for less patriotic reasons. 
 
 After his resignation he continued in practice until his 
 death. One of the noted cases tried by him was as leading 
 counsel, with Walter Forward, in the defence of John F. 
 Braddee for robbing the mails at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 
 On both sides was a rare combination of eminent lawyers, 
 making the trial before Judge Baldwin, in the Circuit Court 
 of the United States, one of the most memorable in Western 
 annals. The struggle between these giants of the Western 
 bar was intense and exciting, and among them Mr. Biddle 
 shone in the vigor of his high powers, and in the command- 
 ing argument and eloquence of his addresses. 
 
 About the same time I had, myself, an opportunity of 
 witnessing the peculiar force and character of Mr. Biddle's 
 intellect, as his colleague, in the then famous case of the 
 Gregg family of Pittsburgh and James Patterson, of 
 Brighton, an ejectment for the undivided half of the prop- 
 erty on which Beaver Falls now stands. The controversy 
 grew out of an illegal sheriff's sale of Isaac Gregg's real 
 
Address to the AUegheny County Bar Assooiaiion. 53 
 
 estate, as a partner and co-tenant of Oliver Ormsby, who, 
 with Mr. Gregg, had been engaged in the iron business at 
 Brighton before 1812. Mr. Biddle took no notes in the 
 trial except a few at wide intervals on the white foolscap, of 
 the name of a witness, or of a fact he desired to notice. 
 These few black marks on an illuminated ground seemed 
 only as aids to recollection. The trial he left largely to 
 myself, who had prepared the case, yet always keeping a 
 close watch and ready to suggest. His address to the jury 
 was remarkable for its keenness and power and for its 
 adroitness and persuasiveness. He had studied it in all its 
 aspects, personal and subjective. Mr. James Patterson was 
 then the largest miller in the county, buying all its wheat, 
 and popular among the farmers, who chiefly composed the 
 jury. Mr. Biddle's description of how Mr. Patterson, the 
 farmer's friend and public benefactor and popular gentle- 
 man, would meet the jurors after a verdict in his favor, his 
 hearty handshake, his words of praise and gratitude, and 
 then his sharp, telling contrast between the rich miller and 
 the poor insane widow, and the distant stricken children of 
 Isaac Grregg, the fraud of the sheriflF's sale, and the sympar 
 thy due to the defrauded deceased, and his oppressed and 
 helpless family, the widow too insane to know her rights, 
 and the children too poor, too ignorant, and too young to 
 defend them, was one of surprising power, telling on the 
 jury until no doubt seemed to rest on the verdict. But the 
 positive instruction of the court left no room to the jury to 
 be swayed by the masterly argument of Mr. Biddle. "We 
 lost, but had the satisfaction, afterwards, of reversing the 
 judgment on leading points. The case being one of great 
 lapse of time, involving large improvements and some 
 doubtful facts, was compromised without a second trial. 
 
 Mr. Biddle's mind was not rapid in its operations, but of 
 immense momentum in its force, the result of large prepa- 
 ration and long and matured thought. Naturally Mr. Bid- 
 dle was not eloquent, but, as it is said of Demosthenes, he 
 overcame his defects, and became impressive and forcible in 
 argument and expression. His thoughts were logical and 
 
64 Address to the AUeghemy Comdy Bar Assodaiion. 
 
 his language well chosen and exceedingly effective. Those 
 who knew him best have told of his preparation and his re- 
 hearsal of his speeches in the privacy of his room. Of the 
 latter I can bear some personal testimony, having heard him 
 at night in the second story of his office building on Third 
 Street (Avenue) below Market Street, and between the 
 dwellings of Mayor John Darragh and Major Ebenezer 
 Denny. In the upper room, between 1824 and 1828, he 
 was often heard speaking to the walls, as though they had 
 ears, with earnestness and full utterance. 
 
 Kiichard Biddle was a gentleman of fine literary taste and 
 acquirement, as well as of a large and accurate knowledge 
 of the law in its highest sense. His reading was said to be 
 various and extensive. I remember well of the wonder of 
 the youngsters, of whom I was one, at the statement that 
 he had actually read Henry's " Commentaries on the Bible" 
 through and through. 
 
 In the main he was not very social, but rather exclusive, 
 seeking communion with books and his own thoughts, and 
 a few friends only, but at times he would unbend and be- 
 come exceedingly pleasant. In my personal intercourse 
 with him on business I found him courteous and always 
 ready to impart his views. An anecdote is told of his 
 meeting a friend, a member of the bar, who boasted of a 
 fee he had received in the shape of a very fine dog ; Biddle 
 replied he was sorry to hear his fees were so cur-tailed. 
 
 On the 17th of June, 1844, he was married to Miss Ann 
 Eliza, eldest daughter of John Anderson, of Allegheny 
 City. In 1845, he lost largely by the great fire of April 
 10, including all his books, valuable briefs, notes of trial, 
 various papers, and numerous curiosities. He did not sur- 
 vive long, dying on the 6th of July, 1847, leaving a widow 
 and two children. 
 
 JOHN HENKT HOPKINS. 
 
 John Henry Hopkins, by birth an Irishman, was born in 
 the city of Dublin January 30, 1792. He came with his 
 parents to the IJnited States in the year 1800. He was 
 
Address to the Allegheny Comdy Bar AssodatUyn. 55 
 
 classically educated, but his Alma Mater is unknown to me. 
 His first business was that of a clerk in Philadelphia. 
 Having a taste for drawing and painting, he assisted in the 
 preparation of the plates for " Wilson's Ornithology." 
 About 1810 or 1811 he was brought out to Basaenheim 
 Furnace, near Zelienople, Butler County, by John S. 
 Glaser (my uncle) as clerk and manager of the furnace. 
 While there he became acquainted with the family of 
 George Henry Miiller, a German merchant, who had failed 
 in business in Hamburg (I think), and emigrated to the 
 United States. 
 
 His family consisted of his wife, a son William Edward, 
 and several daughters. The son entered business in Pitts- 
 burgh. While driving to Braddock with Miss Nancy Denny, 
 to whom he was engaged, and within a week of the day 
 fixed for their marriage, he was thrown from his gig and 
 his thigh-bone broken. He was brought to Major Denny's 
 house on Third below Market Street, where he died. 
 
 John H. Hopkins married a daughter of Mr. Miiller, Meli- 
 cina, a lady of rare accomplishments, excelling in music and 
 painting, who became a valuable assistant when he opened 
 his school for young ladies in Allegheny. 
 
 Mr. Glaser sold Bassenheim Furnace to Daniel Beltz- 
 hoover, of Pittsburgh, and Mr. Hopkins went into the iron 
 business vnth General James O'Hara, in Westmoreland 
 County, at or near Ligonier. But this business failing, as 
 indeed all business did after the War of 1812-15, Mr. Hop- 
 kins studied law, and was admitted, after a short course of 
 study, in Allegheny County April 9, 1818, and at a later day 
 formed a partnership with W. W. Fetterman. As a lawyer 
 he was credited with being sharp and full of expedients. 
 Tiring of the law, in 1823 he turned his attention to 
 divinity, and in 1824 became the rector of Trinity Church, 
 on the triangle bounded by Liberty, Wood, and Sixth Streets, 
 succeeding the Eev. John Taylor. He studied architecture, 
 and planned and superintended the building of the new 
 Trinity on Sixth Street (Avenue), between Wood and Smith- 
 field Streets, in the Gothic style. 
 
66 Address to the Allegheny Qnmiy Bar Assoda&m. 
 
 During this time he built the house on the Beaver Eoad 
 (now Western Avenue), Allegheny, lately occupied by the 
 Hon, Robert McKnight. There he and his wife taught a 
 classical and art school for young ladies, where before 1830 
 many of the young ladies of Pittsburgh were educated. He 
 was also professor of belles-lettres in the "Western University 
 about 1823-24. 
 
 Rising in the church, he was called to Trinity Church, 
 Boston, and was also professor of divinity in a theological 
 seminary there. In 1832 he was chosen the first bishop of 
 Vermont, and took the rectorship of St. Paul's Church in 
 Burlington, where he resided until his death. Still filled 
 with the desire of educating youths, he built and established 
 a boys' school in Burlington, which, hovever, involved him 
 BO greatly the property was sold for debt. 
 
 He became quite a voluminous writer, chiefly on theo- 
 logical subjects, and published many sermons, addresses, 
 and some books on subjects mainly connected with the 
 Episcopal Church and its affairs. Among his works was 
 the " American Citizen," published in 1857, which created 
 a sensation on account of his vindication of American 
 slavery on Bible grounds. He belonged to the High 
 Church party, and was honored by Oxford with the degree 
 of Doctor of Canon Law. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins was a gentleman of culture and refinement, 
 a fine musician and painter, and well up in art, and was 
 also an accomplished speaker. His diction was classical and 
 elegant, sometimes bordering on eloquence, and always 
 pleasing and attractive. He was an accomplished reader, 
 and always read his sermons. My father had a pew in New 
 Trinity, and I often listened to his services. I remember of 
 hearing his sermon on the Trinity, in which he likened 
 trinity and unity to the memory, imagination, and judgment, 
 as three faculties in one mind. 
 
 He was the father of five sons, who became distinguished 
 in their professions and callings. He died at Rock Point, 
 Vermont, January 9, 1868. 
 
Address to the AUegheny Camdy Bar Assodation, 57 
 
 JAMES HALL. 
 
 About the year 1820, a collocation of lawyers' offices 
 stood on the east side of Third Street, a few doors from 
 Wood towards Market Street. They were occupied by 
 Harmar and "William Denny, Harry Campbell, Duncan 
 S. "Walker, and others. A little later came in Robert J. 
 Walker, who removed to Natchez, and in course of time 
 became a well-known senator of the United States, and 
 Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 Among the gentlemen whose offices stood there was one 
 remembered or known by few of the present day, who 
 moved westward, and became eminent as a jurist and a man 
 of letters. James Hall was born in Philadelphia, August 
 19, 1793, and began the study of law there, which was in- 
 terrupted by the War of 1812-15. He first served in the 
 Northern troops on the Niagara border, where he distin- 
 guished himself at the battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater 
 on Lundy's Lane. 
 
 After the close of the war he sailed as an offier in Commo- 
 dore Stephen Decatur's squadron, in the expedition against 
 Algiers. In the month of October, 1816, Lieutenant Hall 
 reported himself for duty to Major A. E. WooUey, at the 
 United States Arsenal near Pittsburgh. Soon afterwards dif- 
 ficulties sprang up between them, ending in a court-martial 
 convened at Pittsburgh, September 11, 1817, composed of 
 Major Thomas Biddle, president; Captain Isaac Eoach, N. 
 N. Hall, James H. Eees, and Lieutenant Richard Bache, 
 members; and Thomas T. Stevenson, judge-advocate. After 
 a trial, lasting until September 25, 1817, Lieutenant Hall 
 was convicted of unofficer-like conduct, of disobedience to 
 orders, and of conduct unbecoming a gentleman, and was 
 sentenced to be cashiered. On the 27th of November, 
 1817, the President approved of the sentence, but in con- 
 sideration of his fair character in other respects, his brave 
 and meritorious conduct during the late war, and in ex- 
 pectation that his future deportment would merit the lenity 
 extended towards him, he remitted the punishment and re- 
 
58 Address to the Allegheny County Bar Assodaiion. 
 
 stored him to his rank, and ordered his release from arrest, 
 and to report for duty. 
 
 The proceedings in this trial were printed in Pittsburgh 
 in 1820, by Eichbaum & Johnston. One cannot read them 
 without being impressed with the belief that the prosecution 
 by Major Woolley was largely the fruit of his tyrannical and 
 vindictive spirit, and the result of Lieutenant Hall's high tone 
 and temper, which could not brook what seemed to him the 
 oppression and insult of his superior officer, carrying him by 
 his loss of temper beyond the line of military subordination. 
 The conviction, in view of the necessity of military obedi- 
 ^ ence, though hard, was technically right ; but the action of 
 the President shows that he appreciated the circumstances 
 of the case, and in view of Lieutenant Hall's merits relieved 
 him from the effect of the sentence. Major Woolley was 
 himself tried by court-martial at Jefferson Barracks, and on 
 the 14th of March, 1829, convicted and dismissed from the 
 service by order of the President, April 28, 1829. 
 
 The trial brings back to my memory many well-known 
 Pittsburghers, — for example, Stephen Barlow, Henry Bald- 
 win, Dunning McNair, "William B. Poster, Dr. Catlett, 
 Charles Shaler, Edward J. Roberts, and Jailer Barney 
 Hubley. The defence of Lieutenant Hall, by himself, was 
 masterly, exhibiting not only forcible argument, but that 
 rich style and exuberance of expression for which he became 
 noted as a writer. The place of the meeting of the court- 
 martial, I presume, from the mention made, was the tavern 
 
 of Kerr, a well-known hostlery in my youth, on the 
 
 southeast corner of Second and Market Streets. 
 
 In 1818, Lieutenant Hall resigned his commission in the 
 army, having previously recommenced the study of the law 
 in Pittsburgh, and was admitted to the bar on the 30th of 
 June, 1818. In 1820 he removed to Shawneetown, Illinois, 
 where he practised his profession, and also edited the Illi- 
 nois Gazette, and was for a time treasurer of Illinois. About 
 1825 he was elected to the office of circuit judge of the 
 State, which he held until 1833, having removed to Cincin- 
 nati late in 1832. 
 
Address to the Allegheny Cawrdy Bar Association. 69 
 
 He also published in Shawneetown the " Illinois Maga- 
 zine," beginning in October, 1830. In it he wrote largely 
 on the subject of the Western Indians, condemning the gov- 
 ernment and the people of the United States for their injus- 
 tice to the red man. This magazine is said to have been the 
 first of its kind published in Illinois. It was devoted chiefly 
 to historical articles and criticisms. Among its contribu- 
 tors were James H. Perkins, Otway Curry, and Salmon P. 
 Chase. 
 
 After his removal to Cincinnati Mr. Hall began, in Janu- 
 ary, 1833, the publication of the " Western Monthly Maga- 
 zine." Among its contributors were many well-known 
 writers, such as Rev. I. M. Peck^ E. P. Mansfield, Morgan 
 Neville, Salmon P. Chase, Mrs. Cg,roline L. Hentz, Miss 
 Hannah F. Gould, and Harriet Beecher (Mrs. Stowe). Hall 
 himself wrote largely criticisms, stories, and historical notes. 
 As a writer he was often caustic and severe, but always in- 
 teresting. His course on two subjects of controversy tended 
 to lessen his popularity, — his defence of Catholicism in the 
 West and his attacks upon " Abolition." 
 
 His writings outside of his magazine were voluminous 
 and attractive, among them legends, tales, biographies, his- 
 torical sketches, and statistics. Many years ago I remember 
 of reading his " Harp's Head," a relation of a most myste- 
 rious murder of a Virginia planter, singular in its circum- 
 stances and undiscovered for a long time. The murderer 
 was a remarkable negro, named Harp, and, after his execu- 
 tion, his head wa;8 stuck up on a high post on a road, which 
 thenceforward bore the name of the " Harp's Head Eoad." 
 
 Mr. Hall was a man of genius as well as of culture. 
 About thirty years since an edition of his entire works was 
 published. He died near Cincinnati July 5, 1868. 
 
 HENRY a. PIUS. 
 
 There was a lawyer, probably now entirely forgotten 
 as such, named Henry G. Pius, pronounced Pees. An 
 amusing incident recalls his memory. He was a Ger- 
 man emigrant, and evidently a gentleman in manners and 
 
60 Address to the AUeghmy Cowrdy Bar AssodaMon. 
 
 education ; but being quite poor, and a fine violinist, he was 
 compelled to resort to teaching dancing for a livelihood. I 
 remember him well. It required hard pushing to thrust me 
 into his dancing-room, then on the corner of Market and 
 Second Streets, and quite as hard pulling to draw me out. 
 In the mean time while teaching he studied law, and was 
 admitted to the bar August 19, 1820. The German popula- 
 tion was then quite small, the foreign element of Pittsburgh 
 being almost wholly Irish. Pius was therefore compelled 
 to continue teaching the light step and pointed toe. Still 
 he longed to dance the legal field and engage with the law- 
 yers' high emprise. But his German tongue barred the way. 
 Like Richard Biddle, he therefore practised in his own safe 
 retreat. 
 
 On one occasion he set up his bow in one place and his 
 violin in another, as judge and jury. Imagining his cause 
 as one of importance to draw forth all the eloquence of his 
 heart, he commenced, " Mr. Shudge, and you Jentlemans of 
 de Shury, I will now bresent dis important case of my 
 clients, so clearly as I can, to make you see his droobles." 
 But here his tongue failed of its duty. " Oh, Gott tarn dis 
 Dootch tongue of mine, he never goes right!" Ee began 
 again, " Mr. Shudge and you Jentlemans," but again the 
 words failed to flow in good Englisb, and he said, " Oh, 
 hell, tarn dis Dootch tongue, I will pull him out." Suiting 
 the action to the word, he gave it a wrench, equal to his 
 temper, so hard it soon swelled to double its size, and be- 
 came so painful he had to call my father from his office 
 across the street to treat it. Pius's dancing-room was then 
 on the corner of Third and "Wood Streets. ' 
 
 Poor fellow ! He got no practice, and removed, I think, 
 to Paris, Kentucky.