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LIBRARY

1938

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MEMOIRS

OF

JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,

LATE CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

WITH
HON. JEREMIAH S. BLACK'S EULOGY,
NOTES FROM HON. WILLIAM A. PORTER'S ESSAY
UPON HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER,
ETC., ETC.

BY
THOMAS P. ROBERTS.

PITTSBURGH:
JOS. EICHBAUiW & CO. 48 FIFTH AVENUE.
1890.

Copyright, 1890.
By Thomas P. Eoberts.
PlTTSBUEQH.

INTRODUCTION.

The opinion of those acquainted with Judge Gibson's
writings, so far as I can learn, is, that his genius was sui
generis, and that he came to exercise it at the formative
period, the period which witnessed the firm establishment
of republican government in America, upon which the war
of 1812 set its seal, and in the quarter of the century that
witnessed the inception of canals and railroads which hastened
wonderfully the settlement and civilization of the continent.
In the determination of the new and perplexing problems
governing these new species of corporations, which arose
during the period in question, the courts of no State took
a more conspicupus part than those of Pennsylvania; and
from 1816 to 1853, a period of thirty-seven years, Judge
Gibson sat on the Bench of her Supreme Court.
But whatever his merits, I do not feel qualified, being
only a layman, to speak of him as a jurist, and have, therefore,
attempted only the humble task of gathering together the
incidents of his private life and the history of his ancestors.
I felt impelled to this duty by reason of the fact that but
little is known by the public concerning his personal history;
for, as was aptly said in a public address, " In our 'American
Eneyclopsedia,' which purports to give in its sixteen big

iv INTEODUCTION.
volumes, biographical sketches of all eminent Americans,
there is no mention whatever of John Bannister Gib.son."*
The Hon. Wm. A. Porter published in 1855, two years
after Judge Gibson's death, an essay on his life, character
and writings; aside from this, and Judge Black's beautiful
eulogy, nothing has been written which merits even the
title of a review of his life as a .judge, while no one has
heretofore attempted to sketch his personal history beyond
the extent of a few paragraphs.
Regarding the private history of a man about whom
his own friends know so little, the task, after a period of
a third of a century has elapsed since his death, of producing
a connected and entertaining sketch is a difficult one. I
will feel satisfied, under the circamstances, if this effiirt will
lessen the labors of the historian in the future who is
destined to appear, as Judge Porter says, to write the
history of the judiciary of Pennsylvania. My aim has been
to raake this not only a personal sketch, but a compilation
of the published matter concerning the part taken in that
history by Judge Gibson. Judge Porter's essay has long
been out of print, and readers will doubtless be pleased to
see reproduced a very large portion of that writer's selections
from Judge Gibson's opinions, with his own interesting and
able comments thereon. This feature, at least, will be recog
nized as not the work of a novice or a layman.
To the family and relatives of Judge Gibson I am
indebted for much useful material; also to ex-Chief Justice
Agnew; Hon. James T. Mitchell and Hon. Henry W.
Williams, of the Supreme Court; Hon. William G. Hawkins,
of Pittsburgh; Thomas J. Keenan, Esq., and William
* Hon. Thos. J. Keenan, at the Pittsburgh Bar meeting in memory of the
late Hon. Jeremiah S. Black.

INTRODUCTION. V
B. Eodgers, Esq., of the Pittsburgh bar; Hon. Charles
H. Smiley, of Perry county; Boyd Crumrine, Esq.,
Reporter of the Supreme Court; Hon. John Stewart, of
Chambersburg, and the Rev. J. A. Murray, of Carlisle,
from whom many valued suggestions and contributions were
received.
T. P. R.
Pittsburgh, Pa., July, 1890.

CONTENTS.

PAET FIEST:— Paqe.
John Bannister Gibson, his Ancestry and Personal History, . 9
PAET SECOND:—
Proceedings of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upon the
occasion of the death of Judge Gibson — Address by the Hon.
Thaddeus Stevens, and Eulogy by the Hon. Jeremiah S. Black,
Chief Justice, . . . . . .99
PAET THIED:—
John Bannister Gibson as a Lawyer, a Legislator and a Judge —
being selections from the Hon. Wm. A. Porter's Essay upon his
life, character and writings; also, a notice of that work by the
Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, ..... 109
PAET FOUETH:—
Article upon Judge- Gibson, from the Mercersburg Quarterly Review,
by the Eev. Joseph Clark, ..... 179
PAET FIFTH:—
In Memoriam of Judge Gibson, being tributes from the Bench and
the Bar, with notes on the speakers, . . . 203
APPENDIX:— [A] Sketch of General John Gibson, uncle of Judge Gibson, . 219
[B] Notice of Colonel George Gibson, father of Judge Gibson
— his military services, .... 225
[C] Sketch of General George Gibson, brother of Judge Gibson, 228
[D] Judges Gibson and Eogers — Monument erected by them
to the actor, Joseph JeflFerson, . . . 232
[E] History of a Poem by Judge Gibson, etc. . . 236
[F] Unpublished (not reported) Opinion delivered by Justice
Gibson, June Term, 1822, . . . 238

JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
LATE CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PART FIRST.
ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.
EARLY RECORDS OF THE FAMILY — MILITARY SERVICES OF
JUDGE Gibson's father — and notices of his uncle,
GENERAL JOHN GIBSON.
The lineage of persons of note, besides being of interest
to the general reader, possesses value to the physiologist, and,
indirectly from him^ it is to be hoped, the lessons it teaches
will prove of benefit to mankind in general. But for most
Americans the task of tracing a pedigree on direct lines, be
yond a few generations, is a difficult one. This difficulty is
probably due to the frequency of marriages between represent
atives of different races, of different language, and religions,
the sundering of national ties, and the consequent loss of
interest in such things. However, when it comes to genealogy
simply, which admits the lines of maternal ancestry, almost
any American can, with the help this double chance affords,
2

10 JOHN bannister GIBSON.
reach back to Penn, or to the Mayflower, aud having once
crossed the ocean with a single syllable of a name, shortly
find a great-grand parent among the " honorables," and if he
pursues it still further, prove himself to have sprung from
the loins of some villainous duke. They were mostly of that
stripe,, for on one point all history is agreed, viz., that the
strongest villains became the greatest dukes.
Vested with the proud distinction of citizenship, the
American who has thus threaded his way back to the ducal,
or, perchance, kingly, ermine, can complacently congratulate him
self on the fact that, after all, it was not a descent, but rather
an ascent, step by step, which marked his family history
from its dark days of blood to these blessed years of en
lightened peace.
In the case of John Bannister Gibson, it seems profitless
to attempt to trace his lineage to the shores of Europe. We
can get him there among the numberless grand and great
grandfathers and mothers of his maternal line, but the name
of Gibson, in this immediate family, seems to be American,
" native and to the manner born," though such, obviously,
could not be the fact.
The established tradition is that the family is of Scotch-
Irish descent, and Judge William A. Pctrter, in his essay on
Judge Gibson, says the name in Scotland was Gilbertson.
The earliest record of the family shows that in the year
1730 Governor Hamilton was instructed by the Proprietors
(the Penns) to lay out the city of Lancaster at or near the
tavern of George Gibson, who was the grandfather of the
subject of this sketch.
In the Pennsylvania Historical Collections, page 397, the
following interesting mention is made concerning this event
and place:

ancestry and personal HISTORY. 11
"Governor Hamilton, at the request of the Proprietors,
laid out Lancaster in 1730, at a place where George Gibson
then kept a tavern with the sign of the 'Hickory Tree,'
on the public road by the side of a fine spring. A swamp
lay in front of Gibson's, another of some extent lay to the
north. Near the spring there once stood a tall hickory tree
which, tradition says, was the center of a little hamlet of a
tribe called the Hickory Indians. The swamp north of Gib
son's is supposed to have extended from the center of the
square bounded by Duke, Queen, Chestnut and Orange streets,
to the swamp along the run, now Water street. Gibson's
pasture, afterwards Sanderson's, was leased at an early period
to Adam Reigart. Gibson's original tavern is said to have
been situated where Slaymaker's hotel now is (1843), and
the spring was nearly opposite."
The late General George Gibson, U. S. A. (brother of
John Bannister), said, in speaking of this Lancaster ancestor,
that he lived until 1786, and was buried in Carlisle.
" Like all the Gibsons," the general continued, " he was
a man of gigantic strength and size, measuring six feet and
eight inches in height."* When asked who was his great
grandfather, the general replied he did not know his
Christian name, but was certain of the fact that he also was
born in this country. General Gibson was born at iabout the
date of the inception of the Revolutionary war, and in 1861,
shortly before his death, when the above conversation took
place, his memory of his grandfather was perfect.
The family most probably came to America about the
*In 1856 or 1857, when the workmen were excavating for the broad
foundation of Judge Gibson's monument, they disclosed the remains of this
ancestor. The coffin had almost disappeared in dust, but the length of a thigh
bone, which was accidentally exhumed, astonished the workmen and made a
permanent impression on the writer, who was a witness of their proceedings.

12 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
time of the Penns' settlement, or earlier. They were num
bered among the English who descended in 1674 from New
York (then New Amsterdam) to drive the Dutch from the
lower Delaware. If a Gibson arrived with Penn, he evi
dently came, as did Miles Standish with the Puritans, carry
ing a flint lock to keep order in meeting. The country
west of Lancaster, to the Susquehanna, was debatable ground
with the Indians even after 1730, and Gibson's tavern was
no doubt a shelter or stockade for the incoming tide of
settlers. The Gibsons have been on the frontier "debating
with the Indians" almost continuously from that date.
Colonel George Gibson, son of Judge Gibson, for many years
in command of the Fifth United States Infantry, died at
his post in New Mexico in 1888.
George Gibson, of Lancaster,* had two sons, George and
John, and two daughters, one of whom married Captain Jacob
Slow of the Continental army, and the other a Mr.
Read, of Middlesex, Cumberland county. Pa. One of Captain
Slow's daughters became the wife of Robert Calender, whose
son Robert was appointed commissary general of the army
by President James Monroe. Another of his daughters was
married to Simon Snyder, one of the governors of the
commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Just how long the Gibsons remained in Lancaster is un
known, but it is believed that George, the father of Judge
Gibson, moved to Silver Spring, Cumberland county, in 1770,
where he became the owner of Silver Spring mills. He
*He was married to Elizabeth De Vinez, the daughter of a French count,
a Huguenot, who, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, took refuge in
Ireland. The late general, Judge Gibson's brother, recollected his grandmother
Elizabeth very well. He describes her as a highly refined and accomplished
lady, "particularly attentive to the etiquette of the table," and it was from her
the older boys received the groundwork of their knowledge of the French and
Spanish languages. She died whilst Bannister was young.

ancestry and personal history. 13
was married two years later to Ann, daughter of Francis
West. The year 1770 is probably the date of the perma
nent settlement of the family in the Cumberland Valley, but
the elder George (and most likely the son also) had to fre
quently visit Carlisle about the period of its settlement, and
later. In one of the accounts of Braddock's expedition, a
courier taking the news of the dire disaster of July 9th,
1755, was directed to proceed as far as Carlisle and meet
George Gibson, who would forward the report to Benjamin
Franklin, who, more than any other Pennsylvanian, was
assisting the English by furnishing supplies of horses and
wagons for their use, and of which, particularly the wagons,
neither Virginia nor Maryland could furnish nearly enough.
No doubt but Gibson was an agent in this work in obedi
ence to Franklin's proclamation,* The town of Carlisle by
this time was secure, and the country about it being rapidly
settled by the Dutch from the Delaware and from Holland.
Before the opening of the Revolution, the father became
too old for effective military service, but his two sons, George
and Johu, figured extensively in the history of those exciting
times. History says but little of the Continental patriots who
spent their lives on the frontiers, holding the savages by the
throat, while their brethren fought the red-coats. Occasionally
a monograph appears, but so far none upon the Gibsons
and their share of the work, yet such a sketch could be
woven into an interesting romance founded on fact.
Something is due to them, and it is appropriate that a
brief statement be made, not only to illustrate the character
of these men, but to unqualifiedly contradict the aspersion
of the character of Judge Gibson's father by Townsend Ward,
author of " The Western Insurrection."
*" History of Braddock's Expedition," Penna. Hist. Soc, p. 164.

14 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
In April, 1782, shortly after the massacre of the Mora
vian (Christian) Indians on the Muskingum river, no less
than ninety having been wantonly murdered, even in their
churches, by rabid frontiersmen from Fort Pitt, Wheeling
and Beaver (Fort Mcintosh), General William Irvine, In
coramand at Fort Pitt, wrote to his wife at Carlisle, men
tioning the above incidents, and stating that these militia
were also highly incensed against Colonel Gibson, "and sent
him word they would scalp him, also. A thousand lies
are propagated all over the country against him, poor fellow.
I am informed the whole is occasioned by his unhappy con
nection with a certain tribe, which leads people to imagine
for that reason that he has an attachment to Indians in
general."* To this extract from General Irvine's letter, Mr. Ward
appends the following note:
"The latter part of this extract, no doubt, relates to
Colonel Gibson's living, as he did for several years, with an
Indian woman, who, like Pocahontas, impelled by love, had
saved him from a cruel death at the hands of her tribe.
He subsequently left her, and marrying, became the father of
John Bannister Gibson, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. The
first love was constant in her feelings, and years afterwards
spoke of Colonel Gibson with great affection. "f
Had Mr. Ward read more from the voluminous pub
lished letters of General Irvine, he would have certainly
known that it was John, and not George Gibson, to whom
he (Irvine) referred. George at this time was at York, Pa.,
as elsewhere related, and is nowhere mentioned about this
*" Contributions to American History," Penna. Historical Society, p. 149;
published 1858.
t " Eea's Incidents," published in a Beaver newspaper.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 15
date as being at Fort Pitt with his brother, although he had
frequently been at that place before the Revolution.
Colonel John Gibson had had temporary command of Fort
Pitt in 1779, during Colonel Brodhead's absence, and after
charges of speculating with public funds had been preferred
against that officer, was formally ^placed in command at that
post in September, 1781, by the authority of no less a com
mander than General Washington, as the following letter
will show :* Head of Elk, Sept. 6th, 1781.
Sir: — Colonel Brodhead having been directed in my letter to
him of this date to resign his command of Fort Pitt, during the
dependence of his trial, on sundry accusations brought against
him whilst in command, you will immediately upon the receipt
of this assume the like command at the post of Fort Pitt and its
dependences, as has been committed to Colonel Brodhead.
I am, dear sir, your most
obedient servant,
Geo. Washington.
To Col. John Gibson,
Fort Pitt.
General Irvine came as a stranger to Fort Pitt before
the close of the Revolution, in November, 1781, relieving
John Gibson of the command. Although his family had be
fore that time settled in Carlisle (Irvine was of Irish birth),
John Gibson and Irvine appear not to have been personally
acquainted. Colonel John, as well as his brother George, having been
well educated, and wilh a genius for language, easily ac
quired a knowledge of the Indian dialects. Whether or not
* '' Washington-Irvine Correspondence," Butterfield, p. 62.

16 JOHN BANNISTER GiBSON.
it was for his pursuit of this knowledge among them, the
Indians gave the nom de guerre of " Horse Head " to John,
is unknown; but probably no white men on the frontier
equalled them in this respect. John Gibson has left a
lasting memorial of his abilities as a translator of the Indian
language in the speech, or message, of Logan,* the Mingo
chief, "Who is there to mourn for Logan," etc., delivered at
the close of Lord Dunmore's war in 1774, on the banks of
the Scioto river. We are left in doubt whether to admire
most the pathos of the savage orator, or the genius of the
man who could interpret its fiery grunts into English deemed
graceful enough to be placed in the school books. Doubts exist
in the minds of some commentators on American history,
as to whether such a speech was really ever delivered. Sir
William Johnston, Thomas Jefferson, who brought it into
notoriety, and others, have had its authorship attributed to
them, but the testimony of the earliest writers agree that it
was a real message, aud delivered to Gibson. f
John Gibson remained at Fort Pitt as its commander
for many years after the Revolution, and finally became a
permanent resident of Braddock's Field, Allegheny county,
where he died in 1822. Thrown into constant contact with
acquaintances, friends and relatives from the Cumberland
Valley, it seems strange that none of them in their corre
spondence allude to any Indian wife and child. He after
wards became an intimate friend of Irvine's family, and the
statement of General Irvine was made according to hearsay,
after a short acquaintance. Gibson's numerous enemies among
* Logan came originally from the Juniata river valley, and it is not unlikely
that his tribe and himself, before they moved to Yellow Creek, Ohio, were
known to the Gibsons, and hence the friendsliip between them so frequently
alluded to. At least this conclusion appears to be a reasonable one.
t A succinct sketch of John Gibson's life, including Logan's message, will be
found in the Appendix (A).

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 17
the insurrectionists during the great Whiskey Rebellion of
1794, in which he took a prominent part on the side of
the government, would most likely have ventilated his rec
ord on this score, had the story been credited at that date.
Everything betokens that the story originated from the tales
of ignorant men, who attributed his charity and kindliness
of heart for oppressed Indians to a vile motive.
He appears to have been a fearless man. Thus contrast
General Irvine's letter to his wife (a part of the same letter
previously raentioned) with one on the same subject from
Gibson to the Moravian bishop. Irvine says : " Many chil
dren were killed in their wretched mothers' arms. Whether
this was right or wrong I do not pretend to say. * * *
Whatever your private opinion of these matters may be, I
conjure you, by all the ties of affection, * * * jjq^ ^q
express any sentiment foK or against these deeds, as it may
be alleged the sentiments you express come from me or be
mine. No man knows whether I approve or disapprove of
killing the Moravians."
Not so profoundly cautious in regard to his opinion, and
he, of all men, most in danger of the cutthroat Indian
haters and escaped convicts who formed a large proportion
of the population of Fort Pitt at that period, was Colonel
Gibson in his answer to the letter from Bishop Siedel (the
Moravian bishop of Bethlehem, Pa.) He says, under date
of May 9th, 1782, from Fort Pitt: "Mr. Schebosh will be
able to give you a particular account of the late horrible
massacre perpetrated at the towns on Muskingum, by a set
of men, the most savage miscreants that ever degraded
human nature. Had I known of their intention before it
was too late, I should have prevented it by informing the
poor sufferers of it."*
* " W.-I. Correspondence," p. 362.

18 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Irvine probably told the truth when he wrote of Gib
son : "A thousand lies are propagated all over the country
against him, poor fellow," and then he proceeded to assist in
the propagation of the most contemptible one.* A man who
was afraid to express his opinion of the perpetrators of one
of the foulest crimes which have stained the pages of the
history of the frontier, was certainly capable of this.
In calling attention to a weak point in his character,
no offense is intended to the memory of General Irvine,
whose name is engraved on the tablets of history as one
of the bravest and most distinguished of soldiers who fought
during the Revolution. He was born at Fermanagh, Ire-
* The following is an extract from John Sappington's deposition (testimony in
the examination of the Mingo massacre), see p. 268, New Ed. " Jefferson's Notes,"
1853: "I was intimately acquainted with General (John) Gibson, and served
under him during the late war, and I have a discharge from him now lying inthe
land office at Eichmond, to which I refer any person for my character, who
might be disposed to scruple my veracity. I do not believe that Logan had any
relations killed, except his brother (at the killing of the Mingoes, June 30th,
1774, at Baker's Bottom, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, near Wellsville,
Ohio). Neither ofthe squaws who were killed was his wife. Two of them were
old women, and the third, with her child which was saved, I have the best rea
sons iu the world to believe was the wife aud child of General Gibson. I know
he educated the child and took care of it as if it had been his own.''
Also this apparently corroborative testimony, from the " Eecord of Upland,
and Denny's Journal," p. 490, being an extract from the recollections of Lieu
tenant Murphy, related in 1849, when hei was 97 years old, to Dr. William H.
Denny : " I was well acquainted with John Gibson — served under him when he
was Colonel of the 13th (Virginia) Eegiment — have seen his Indian wife Betty."
These men were apparently unaware of the fact that he owed these Indians
a debt of gratitude for having spared his life several years previous to this
time. John Gibson, when not fighting Indians, was attending strictly to busi
ness, and it is difficult to conceive that he would maintain a wife in a distant
Indian tribe. He was almost constantly surrounded by friendly Indians ; why,
therefore, not provide a domicile for his " Pocahontas," had he been possessed of
one, near his homestead at Fort Pitt ? However in the future these views may
be regarded, no writer can truthfully assert that George Gibson, the father of
John Bannister, was hampered with an Indian woman and a half-breed family
when he married Ann West. Speaking of George Gibson's character, Dr. Denny
says : " Besides being a gallant soldier, he was an accomplished gentleman a
man of wit and fine imagination." p. 489, work above mentioned.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 19
land, November 3, 1741. Graduated at the Dublin Uni
versity, and became a surgeon in the English navy. He
emigrated to America in 1763, and settled in 1764 as a
physician in Carlisle. Between 1774 and 1776, he was a
member of the Provincial Assembly from Carlisle. He
was made colonel of a regiment by Congress, and on May
12th, 1779, was appointed brigadier general. After the
war he was a member of Congress, and died in Philadel
phia July 29th, 1804.
Of the military services of Captain, afterwards Colonel
George Gibson, father of John Bannister, we can catch only
occasional glimpses. Seldom being in separate command of
important posts or expeditions, his chances to make a record
were not as good as those who outranked him. In Caesar's
Commentary one reads much of Csesar and of the invinci
ble sixth legion of which the immortal Julius was once
commander. Had the more generous, and far more accu
rate, Thucydldes lived at that period and written, the his
tory of Cseisar's times would have been valuable beyond
computation. The families of individuals may cherish for a while the
name and fame of their progenitors, but as a rule a few
generations bury their deeds in oblivion ; and such has
almost been the fate of Gibson pere.
George Gibson had been with his brother John in the
West, but after the close of Lord Dunmore's war in 1774
he repaired to his home in the Sherman Valley, at West-
over Mills, the property of his father-in-law, and to which
place he moved from Silver Springs in 1773, the year fol
lowing his marriage. It is said that he was not successful
in business affairs in the Cumberland Valley. It is gener
ally conceded, however, that military life unfits most men for

20 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
ordinary business, probably because in its routine the incentive
to gain is missing, and no field offers for the development
of business tact.
At the call to arms for the Continental army, he, has
tening to Pittsburgh, early in 1776 recruited a company
of one hundred men at that place for service in the army,
being perhaps the first man to organize a considerable force
for this purpose west of the Allegheny Mountains. The
"ear piercing fife," with its mate the "spirit stirring drum,"
was then, as now, a necessary concomitant of the militia
company. 'But while drummers can always be improvised
on short notice, the fifer must have music in his soul. No
fifer could be found in the woods, and no doubt the discon
tent among the men was great on the first march until
their captain proved himself not only equal to the duty of
commanding, but of playing the fife as well. Had this pic
ture caught the eye of Trumbull we might have expected
it to be immortalized on canvas along with others of his
revolutionary scenes. A man of Gibson's genius, at such a
time, would stand dignity aside for the humor of the thing.
He reported with his men to Colonel, afterwards General
Hugh Mercer, who was at that time at Williamsburg, Va.,
recruiting and drilling a regiment for service in the North.
Gibson's men were for the most part the wildest kind of
frontiersmen, who had never been subjected to any species of
discipline. Shortly after their arrival in camp, finding the
commissariat not up to their ideas, at least as regarded quan
tity, they proceeded to forage on the farmers on their own ac
count. Their captain had no end of trouble with them,
for while they listened to him they obeyed neither him nor
any other commander, hence they were jocularly called " Gib
son's lambs." Finally, General Mercer arrested the entire lot,

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 21
but instead of dealing harshly with the men, he appealed
to their patriotism, uo doubt promising thera a liberal sup
ply of provisions, and settled the trouble quietly. The men
never again gave grounds for complaint.*
Colonel George Gibson served during the entire war, being
absent from the field only when appointed by the Virginia
State authorities to negotiate secretly with the Spanish govern
ment for a supply of powder and lead for the Virginia State
and Continental troops, in which he was eminently successful.
The knowledge of the French and Spanish languages ac
quired from his mother were of the greatest service to him
on this important mission. On this mission he traversed the
wilderness from Pittsburgh to New Orleans, sending the
supplies back in flat boats after many vexatious delays.
General Washington seems to have reposed so much confi
dence in his executive ability that, after the surrender of the
British array under Cornwallis, at Yorktown, the entire body,
excepting the commissioned officers, was placed under his
command when they were sent to York, Pa., as prisoners of
war. A. soraewhat detailed account of his services will be
found in the Appendix (B), in the report of a congressional
comraittee, of which the distinguished Mr. Muhlenberg, of
Pennsylvania, was chairman.
Just after the close of the war he was consulted- by
General Irvine at Fort Pitt, as to the best route for a
projected expedition against Detroit.j" He was familiar with
the Ohio Valley and the Muskingum country, but north
of where Columbus now stands, he was a stranger.
During the remainder of his life George Gibson was
* For one account of this incident, see sketch of Mercer in the " Casket,"
published in Philadelphia, 1833, p. 316.
t Gibson's letter from York, Pa., to General Irvine. "Washington-Irvine
Correspondence," p. 353.

22 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
more at home, though for want of a congenial occupation
and an inborn restlessness, spent much of his time hunting
and in the saddle, traveling to and fro among his own and
his wife's relations in the Cumberland Valley and in Lan
caster county. His son Bannister says he had " no positive
vices." Faint praise, perhaps, but considering the grossness
of some of his neighbors, he did well to live as a gentleman
among them. His lively disposition and fund of anecdote
made him universally popular, and had he turned his at
tention to politics, he might have been returned to the
Legislature, or to Congress; but there can be no certainty
regarding this supposition, for his claims would have been
contested by lawyers of signal ability, in the neighboring
town of Carlisle, who were far more adept than he in
shaping the "will of the people."
Early in 1791, Congress having voted that a levy of
two thousand soldiers, in two regiments, from Virginia and
Pennsylvania, be made to assist General Arthur St. Clair
in an expedition against the British, Indians and renegades,
who made Detroit their base of operations against the set
tlers of the Ohio Valley, George Gibson was appointed
lieutenant colonel and field commander of the "Second
Regiment of Levies." These men were enlisted for the
term of six months only, and before they had fairly started
out from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) the time of many
had expired, and they became clamorous for their discharges^
while many others deserted.
St. Clair's expedition was the first considerable military
undertaking which engaged the attention of the young United
States,* and it was made before the departments of ord-
*The Indians who began to steal their horses as soon as they were landed at
Fort " Washington opposite the Licking," enjoyed the distinction of capturing
the first animals branded U. S. See Denny's Journal.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 23
nance and supplies were properly organized. Men were even
sent from prisons to fill the ranks. Under all the circum
stances it is a wonder that St. Clair found himself able to
proceed at all. He was, no doubt, entitled to the verdict
of acquittal of blame which he afterwards received at the
hands of a congressional committee.
The Indians were met on the banks of the Wabash,
ninety miles north of Fort Washington in the midst of a
swampy country, which is known to this day as the Black
Swamp Region. The attack was made just after morning
parade in the camp, November 4th, 1791, and before sun
rise. In a few moments the army was entirely surrounded
by an unnumbered host of savages. Out of 1,400 men ac
tually engaged, thirty-seven officers and 593 privates were
killed or reported missing, and thirty-one officers and 252
privates, wounded, leaving less than 500 unhurt. American
troops were never so severely handled by Indians, except
in the Custer massacre on the Little Big Horn, June, 1876.
In many respects it was a repetition of Braddock's battle.
Of the sixty-eight officers killed and wounded in the four
regiments engaged, eighteen belonged to Gibson's regiment.
He was wounded in the head early in the engagement, but
fought afterwards with a bandage around it, making himself
a conspicuous target for the riflemen of the enemy, who
lurked behind the trees. He was wounded a second time,
and again by a shot through the wrist, which totally dis
abled him.* Major Butler, the gallant soldier from young
Pittsburgh, his next in command, was also wounded. Both
did their utmost to rally their men in attempts to clear the
front. Nearly all the desperately wounded were left on the
* This is from records obtained in Ohio several years ago. Denny's Journal
is the authority for the losses and the incidents, except as they refer to Gibson
personally.

24 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
field. Colonel Gibson, though mortally wounded, was safely
carried by his men to Fort Jefferson, a stockade thirty miles
back on the road towards Fort Washington, which place had
been built by St. Clair, when on the advance and while
waiting for supplies to come up. Here Colonel Gibson died
a few days afterwards, and there his body still remains.*
* The township in Mercer county, Ohio, in which the battle was fought, is
named " Gibson," after Colonel George Gibson. The writer is probably the only
one of his descendants who has ever visited Port Jefferson where the colonel is
buried. No one, when he was there, could designate the spot where the veteran
reposes. In traveling along near the old trail of St. Clair's army through Preble
and Darke counties, Ohio, the writer was told that il could be distinguished even
in the forest, by the straggling line of sycamores, which had succeeded the oak
and beech cut away by the pioneers of the army. Other old clearings in this
region are now also grown up in sycamore, hut there does appear to be a " trail "
of them quite marked in places. In"Pennsylvania, neglected roads or old trails
through native pine forests sometimes grow up in chestnut, presenting a curious
contrast to the surrounding arborescent growth.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 25

CHAPTEE IL
THE BIRTHPLACE ALSO OF
TWO GOVERNORS — HIS EARLY EDUCATION AND COLLEGE
CLASSMATES.
In a letter written from Carlisle, under date of July
9th, 1851, to his friend John William Wallace, of Phila
delphia, Judge Gibson gives the following particulars respect
ing his maternal ancestry :
" You ask about my maternal relations. My mother was
Anne, daughter of Francis West,* a substantial freeholder,
descended from an Irish branch of the Delaware family,
probably before it was ennobled. The peerage is an English,
and I believe an existing one. My maternal grandmother
was a Wynne. Owen Wynne, the head of the family, is,
or lately was, the first commoner in Ireland, and refused
a peerage. Through the Wynnes, we are connected with
the Coles of Enniskellen. Another connection, not so rep
utable, was the famous Colonel Barre, the associate of
Wilkes in his politics and his vices.
* Francis West, after his emigration to • this country, settled first either in
Lancaster or Chester county, Pa. He was a cousin of the distinguished artist,
Benjamin West. He at one period was Colonial Judge of Cumberland county,
when its territory embraced many of the present southern counties of the State.
He died in 1786, and is buried at Carlisle. He was married to Mary Lowery, and
their family consisted of two sons and three daughters. The sons were named Ed
ward, who died in Landisburg, Perry county, in 1816, and William, who died
in Baltimore, Md. Dorothea married Michael Kingston, and settled in
Juniata County, Pa.; Mary married Eoss Mitchell ; the third married George
Gibson, as related. Judge West was a Tory at the opening of the Eevolution,
and his feeling against his son-in-law George Gibson, who was an ardent Feder
alist, or Eepublican, was extremely bitter for a while, although they ultimately
became entirely reconciled.
4

26 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
"My mother was born at Clover Hill, near Sligo, in
1744, and came with the family to this country about 1765,
She died on the 9th of February, 1809. I believe her
father had been a Trinity College boy, for he spoke Latin
after the fashion of his day. ***** I was born
among the mountains of Cumberland. [Perry originally
formed a part of Cumberland county.] Fox hunting, fish
ing, gunning, rifle shooting, swimming, wrestling and boxing
with the natives of my age, were my exercises and my
amusements. My mother, who, having been educated in
Philadelphia, was qualified for the task, directed my read
ing, and put such books into my hands as were proper for
me. We had from one to two hundred volumes, Burke's
Annual Register included, and I read all of them so often
that they are as fresh in my memory as if I had read
them yesterday. My poor mother struggled with poverty
during the nineteen years she lived after my father's death,
and having fought up gallantly against it, till she had
placed me at the bar — died. She was certainly a noble
soul, but the little talent of the family came from my
father's side; I should say genius, for he had no talent
at all. He was celebrated as a humorist, and even a wit,
but though without a positive vice, he never could advance
his fortune, except in the army, for which alone he was
qualified."* *In a letter to the writer, Mrs. McClure, Judge Gibson's only surviving
daughter, thus refers to her grandfather — letter dated Carlisle, Pa., December
29th, 1886 : " Ma told me he was constantly traveling, a great lover of society,
and was the life of a party, full of wit, for which he was very celebrated. When
I went a bride to Pittsburgh in 1833, Mrs. Harmar Denny's mother, old Mrs.
O'Hara, then very aged, asked to be told when I came to return Mrs. Denny's
visit, for she was anxious to see me, as she knew and admired my grandfather so
much, and told me that she met him last in Philadelphia, and that he ' would be
invited to four parties of an evening, and wherever he went, the men would
follow, so much was he admired,' etc. ;I guess the stupidity of Perry county

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 27
Mrs. Gibson was left with four sons at the time of the
death of her husband in 1791, and she had a daughter
who died in infancy. The oldest of these boys was Francis
West,* seventeen years old; George, fifteen; John Bannister,
eleven years at the time of their father's death, and Will
iam Chesney, several years younger.
John Bannister Gibson was born on the Westover Mill
property, in the old house still standing, but now little
better than a ruin, November 8th, 1780.
There is a story connected with this old mansion which
deserves to be retold, of its being the cradle spot of so
many distinguished men, and it can be best related in the
language of its author, the Hon. Charles H. Smiley, sena
tor from Perry county, used in the proceedings of the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, April 14th, 1881, on the oc
casion of the death of the Hon. William Bigler, ex-gov
ernor of this State. Speaking of Bigler, Mr. Smiley said:
" Other tongues have told to-day the story of his life,
and the service he rendered the State, and I would not
undertake to add to what has been so eloquently said, were
it not that investigation into the local history of my native
county justifies me in making a statement concerning the
birth-place of the Honorable William Bigler, different from
what has been generally adopted by the country.
" On the banks of Sherman's creek, in Perry county,
less than fifty miles from this chamber, towards the setting
must have been unendurable to such a man. I have heard both Pa and Uncle
George speak of their mother as being a well educated woman. She went to a
boarding school in Philadelphia, and had quite a library of well selected books
for those times, which Pa read so often that he could repeat pages of them. Her
boys certainly owed everything to her. Old Mrs. Duncan, Judge Duncan's wife,
told me she was a devourer of books, would read by moonlight and while knitting
her sons' stockings. There is evidently where Uncle Prank and Pa's fondness
of reading came from."
* Frank was born March 27th, 1774— died March 18th, 1856.

28 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
sun, there stands an old building strongly marked by di
lapidation and decay. This building is well known through
out that section of country as the Gibson mansion. Four
miles up the stream are the Perry county warm springs, a
popular summer resort. A rifle shot below the house is a
huge pile of bowlders known as Gibson's rock, and on
either side of the stream immense hills are piled up to
ward the clouds, forming a gorge through which the stream
runs to the open fields below.
"Whether to the singular beauty of the locality may be
attributed the genius and the prodigies that went forth from
this spot, I know not, but it was the good fortune of the
old house to have one room in which were born five men
who have made their mark on the times in which they
lived, to wit: John Bannister Gibson, chief justice of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, who gathered a store of
pearls for the profession from the depths of legal lore, and
whose name is revered wherever the common law is known;
General George Gibson, commissary general of the United
States army for many years prior to the rebellion ; Hon
orable John Bigler, who by a singular coincidence was
made governor of California at the same time that his
brother became governor of Pennsylvania; Honorable Will
iam Bigler, the subject of this sketch; and Honorable John
Bernheisel, who in after years adopted the Mormon faith
and became the representative of the polygamists in Con
gress. It was from this retired spot that William Bigler,
the miller's son, started out on a career bf almost three
score and ten years."*
 ft  ^_^ 
*Under date of November 4th, 1886, Mr. Smiley, in a letter to the writer,
says : " The statement I made in connection with the old Gibson mansion as the
birthplace of the Biglers, etc., provoked quite a newspaper controversy in this
section of the State and resulted in the development of facts which I think fully
sustain my assertion. William Bigler was born in December, 1813.

BIRTHPLACE OF JUDGE GIBSON.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 29
The fact that the Biglers were born in the old mansion
has always been known in the Gibson family. For some
years after his mother's death in 1809, Francis Gibson re
sided in Carlisle, and the father of the Biglers leased the
mill and homestead during his absence. Francis afterwards re
turned to the old place, where he died March 18th, 1856,
at the advanced age of eighty-two years. He was a kind
hearted old gentleman, venerated by his friends and neigh
bors, and dearly beloved by his family. Like his brothers
George and Bannister, he was very tall and had been a
powerful man physically in his younger days. He had con
siderable taste for music and excelled as a violinist. His
health remained perfect to the last.
We do not wish to have it inferred that Francis Gibson
ever became a great performer, but both he and his brother
Bannister possessed decided genius for music. Bannister far
surpassed his brother as a performer because of his super
ior opportunities in the musical world. It was not with
Bannister, however, a controlling passion, though seldom,
indeed, where the talent for music is developed so much as
in his case, that its subject does not become a votary.
The widow's property consisted of about seventy-eight
acres, including the mill on Sherman's creek, a log struc
ture with only " one run of stone." As the country about
the place was sparsely populated, the business of the mill
returned her a very scanty means of subsistence. The gov
ernment was neither so rich nor so generous as it is now
to the widows of its fallen soldiers, for neither she nor
her children ever received a cent in the way of a pension.
Her position was assuredly a forlorn one. Left as she
was, in a mountain wilderness in which there were no
schools of any kind, there appeared no hope that she would

30 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
be able to educate her sons. Neither did employment of any
kind present itself near her home where she could have
apprenticed her boys to useful trades. The country was so
mountainous that even agriculture was confined to very
limited spots along the creek bottom.
With the determination not to permit her sons to de
generate, Mrs. Gibson built a school-house near the home
stead, where she taught the boys, herself. That she was a
successful teacher is proved by the fact that before her son
George was twenty years old she had secured for him a
place in the counting house of Alexander McDonald, a dis
tinguished importer in Baltimore, who, while a resident of
Carlisle, had been an intimate friend of her husband.
Soon after entering Mr. McDonald's service, George was
made supercargo of a vessel in the East India trade, and
was able to be of some assistance in the education of his
younger brothers. In after years he remarked that aside
from the schooling he received at home from his mother,
his education " had not cost two shillings."*
William at an early period adopted commercial pursuits,
and like his brother George, eventually became supercargo
of a vessel in the foreign trade from Baltimore. He died
at the old horae about the age of thirty. He was con
valescing from an attack of yellow fever that he had con
tracted abroad, and brought on a relapse by exposure dur
ing a hunting expedition.
Being probably the most studious of the boys, as we may
infer from the letter already given. Bannister seems to have
been reserved by his mother to enter the legal profession.
Who knows but this noble woman often dreamed of the
fame destined for this chcsen son? She must have had

* For a sketch of George's life see Appendix.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 31
high hopes concerning him. But she did not live to real
ize her fond anticipations, for in the language of the son,
which almost breathes a sigh, "having placed me at the
bar, she died."
She was a devout member of the Church of England
(Episcopal), and seldom failed to attend the Sunday services
of St. John's church at Carlisle, acrcss the Blue mountains,
and fifteen miles distant frora her home. One amusing
story is told of her. Happening upon one occasion to be
in Carlisle, she unexpectedly met Bishop White of Christ
church, Philadelphia (the celebrated divine and Washington's
pastor), and she prevailed upon him to accompany her to
Perry county, that he raight baptize one or more of the
boys who had not yet been christened.
It so happened that all four of the boys were off on a
hunt that day in the mountains, and as they did not re
turn untiL late, the household, with its distinguished visitor,
was sound asleep before they came in ; the baptism was
necessarily postponed until the morrow. The boys knew
nothing of this arrangement, and as game tracked best in
the early morning, they started before day-break to conclude
the chase abandoned the evening before. Just how the old
lady explained matters to the bishop at " coffee and muf
fins" that morning, and the boys absent from the table, is
not told, but it is very easy to imagine that as he rode
away without having performed his duty, he believed that
Perry county required more wide-awake missionaries than
the church usually sends to the heathen in other lands.
Judge Gibson was named "Bannister" after a distin
guished Virginia gentleman and lawyer of that name in
Richmond, who had probably formed his father's acquaint
ance in some of the Virginia campaigns.

32 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Concerning the name Bannister, about which there have
been some queries, Judge James T. Mitchell of the Supreme
Court writes as follows:
"Regarding his name Bannister, I have always wondered
whether his father, having a taste for dramatic art, as he
had himself, had called him after the distinguished English
comedian John Bannister, or whether he was named after
the Virginia soldier and statesman. Your memoir solves
the doubt. Colonel John Banister was a member of the
Continental Congress, a signer of the Articles of Confederation,
and an officer in the Virginia line during the Revolution.
It was doubtless there that Colonel George Gibson knew
him and for him he named his son. Colonel Banister died
in 1787. The spelling. Banister, with one "n" is correct,
as the Chief Justice wrote it in his earlier days. His
writing it Bannister in the register at a later date was
probably an inadvertence from long disuse of the name in
full." That the tracing of names is not entirely devoid of
amusement the following will show. Mr. F. W. Gibson, a
nephew of Judge Gibson, having written that many years
ago he saw a copy of the will of Colonel George Gibson,
the original of which is recorded in Cincinnati, in which
the father, referring to the son, mentions him as Hiram
John Bannister, an attempt was made to verify the state
ment. Judge Gibson never in his life to any of his
family spoke of such a proposed name as Hiram. The
following reply came from the Probate Court of Hamilton
county, Ohio, dated October 6th, 1887: "I have examined
the will of George Gibson, deceased, and find his sons' names
are Francis West Gibson, George Patrick Henry Gibson,
William Chesney Gibson and Matthias John Bannister Gib-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY, 33
son." (Signed), Charles H. Fox, chief deputy clerk. The
will was made, no doubt, before the name of this son was
finally determined upon. As a matter of fact Judge Gibson
was not baptized until after his marriage, and neither
Hiram nor Matthias entered into its final make-up.
Bannister went to Carlisle to attend Dickinson College
in 1795 or 1796, and graduated, it is generally believed,
in 1800.Whether he was an actual graduate, as stated by Judge
Porter and raany others, and also as to the year given by
most of them (1800) for that event, there are grounds for
serious doubt. Quite recently the Rev. J. A. Murray, a
Presbyterian minister of Carlisle, addressed to his friend, the
Rev. J. I. Brownson, of Washington, Pa., a letter contain
ing interesting notices of Judge Gibson's classmates and a
reference to these very matters. The letter having been
shown to Boyd Crumrine, Esq., of the Washington bar and
reporter of the Supreme Court, was in turn sent by him
to the writer. Mr. Murray is an authority on the alumni
of Dickinson College, whose pleasant campus and venerable
front faces his home. Mr. Murray became a student of
Dickinson in 1834, but in the following year he entered
the Western University at Pittsburgh, from which he gradu
ated in 1837, to enter immediately the Theological Semi
nary in Allegheny city, as a classraate of Mr. J. I. Brown-
son, graduating finally in 1840.
The alumni record prepared in recent years by Prof.
Super, assisted by Mr. Murray and others, and from which
the date is taken, assigns Judge Gibson to the class of
1798. He was four years, or nearly four years, at least,
at college, and joined the Union Philosophical Society in
1797, and probably not later than his sophomore year.
5

34 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Some of the accounts state that before entering college he
had been a year or raore in the grammar school. To
have graduated in 1798, he must have entered college at
the age of fourteen, and if the class matriculated in 1794
his classmate Alexander was then only twelve years old,
and Metzger and McGinley thirteen and fourteen years old
respectively. The United States Law Magazine, in a sketch
of Judge Gibson, published several years before his death,
places the date of his graduation in the year 1800. Mr.
Murray says in reply to a letter, that he can furnish no
more information on these points than the records show,
nor explain how these particular records were obtained, and
thus the matter must rest with the college records in con
flict with tradition and the established belief of' some of
Judge Gibson's personal friends.
Mr. Murray's letter to Mr. Brownson will show that
Judge Gibson's class contains the honored names of the
sires of many well known families existing to this day —
he says :
" I have several publications, each containing a sketch
of Judge Gibson and all representing him as having gradu
ated at Dickinson College. But I am very sure this is a
mistake. He never graduated in the proper sense of
that word. He was a student of the college, and after
wards, from 1816 to 1829, he was a raember of the board
of trustees. In the catalogue of the Union Philosophical Society of
the college his name appears in the year 1797. But in
the recently published record of the students of the college
his narae appears as belonging to the class of 1798.
He was what we would call an irregular student, and
had quite a nuraber of irregular students as classraates, a

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 35
few of whom became somewhat prominent in subsequent
life, ainong whom were :
Elias Ellraaker, Pa. (See Biographical History of Lan
caster County, p. 191.)
John C. Floyd, Va. (Afterwards governor of that State.)
Alfred M. Grayson, Ky.
William N. Irvine, Pa. (A lawyer, colonel in the array,
president judge of York and Adams district, etc. See
Pennsylvania Genealogies by Dr. Egle, 1886, p. 238. Colonel
Irvine's wife was a sister of Judge Gibson's wife. Ibid,
p. 233.) William King, Pa. (An M. D. of Cumberland county.)
Ralph Martin, of Cumberland county.
George Metzger,* Pa. (A prominent lawyer of Carlisle ;
member of the Legislature, wealthy and generous; a trus
tee of our Second Presbyterian church; a bachelor, and
died here in 1879, in his 98th year. By his will he
founded and endowed among us what is known as the
' Metzger Institute,' a flourishing seminary for young ladies.)
John More, Pa. Thompson More, Pa. George W. Morrow.
James Richards. William Ritchie. (Possibly ' Father Ritchie,'
of the Richmond Enquirer.) Thomas Stockton, N. J. William
Watson, M. D.
To these fourteen irregular students John Bannister
Gibson belonged, and was the raost celebrated. But belong
ing to the same class and who graduated were twenty-four
others :
James Adair. (Licensed by the Carlisle Presbytery in
1803. Pastor of Paxton and Denny churches. Died same
year, aged thirty-two years.)
Samuel Agnew, M. D. (A surgeon in the army during
* Mr. Murray wrote a sketch of his life.

36 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
the war of 1812-1815. Afterwards a practicing physician in
Harrisburg. A Christian gentleman, quite prominent in
social and professional life. He died in Pittsburgh, Novem
ber 23d, 1849, aged seventy-two years. He was the father
of the Rev. Dr. J. Holmes Agnew, a Presbyterian minister,
professor in Washington College, Pa., in Newark College,
Del., in Marion College, Mo., in the University of Michi
gan, etc. Also editor of the 'Electric Magazine,' and of
'Knickerbocker,' N. Y., etc. See 'Men of Mark' of Cum
berland county, pp. 270, 394, and also the ' Presbyterian
Encyclopaedia.') Joseph Brady. (A member and pastor of the Carlisle
Presbytery, who died in 1821, aged forty-seven years ; and
was an uncle of ray present wife.)
Andrew Buchanan. (Lawyer and raember of the Legisla
ture, and pf Congress, etc.)
Levi Bull, D. D. (A prorainent minister of the Epis
copal Church in Chester county, Pa., and who had been
ordained by Bishop White. He died August 2, 1859, aged
about eighty years.)
John Cooper. (Principal of Hopewell Academy, near
Shippensburg, founded by his father. Rev. Dr. Robert
Cooper. His son, too, was justly called a ' prince araong
educators.') William Downey, M. D. James D. Greason, Esq. (Died
a farmer, where he was born, near Carlisle.)
James Gustine, M. D. (Born and practiced medicine in
Carlisle. A trustee of Dickinson College from 1808 to 1820.
Finally removed to Natchez, Miss., where he died. See His
tory of Cumberland County, Pa., p. 182.)
James Guthrie. (A Presbyterian minister.) George Hayes,
M. D. Thompson Holmes, M. D. (Born near Carlisle, De-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 37
cember 16th, 1780. Practiced medicine and farmed in Vir
ginia ; removed to Philadelphia in 1844, and there died in
June of 1855. He was social and agreeable, and the maternal
grandfather of ' Fanny Lear,' who died at Nice, in May
of 1886.)
Robert Haston, M. D. Joshua Knight. (A Presbyterian
minister.) Amos A. McGinley, D. D. (He was an honored member
of the Carlisle Presbytery, and for a half century was the
amiable, beloved and useful pastor of but one charge, among
whom he died. May 1st, 1856, aged 78 years.
William F. Mitchell, Pa. Alexander Monteith. (A Pres
byterian minister.)
Robert Proudfit, D. D. (A Presbyterian minister; born
in York county. Pa., June 6th, 1777. For raany years a
pastor in the State of New York. Then professor of ancient
languages iu Union College from 1818 to 1849; then eme
ritus professor until he died, in Schenectady, N. Y., February
11th, 1860, in his 84th year.)
William H. Rainey, V. D. M. Thomas Stockton, New
Jersey. (Name occurs in both lists in the college catalogue.)
John Waugh.
Henry R. Wilson, D. D. (Licensed to preach by the Car
lisle Presbytery; professor of languages in Dickinson College.
The faithful and useful pastor of several churclies, etc.
Died in Philadelphia, March 22d, 1848, nearly 70. See
' Men of Mark,' and ' Presbyterian Eneyclopsedia.' The
Rev. Dr. H. R. Wilson, Jr., a foreign missionary, teacher,
and for many years the very able corresponding secretary of
the Presbyterian board of church erection, was his son.)
John Wright. (A Presbyterian minister ; born February
17th, 1777, in Pennsylvania. Pastor of several churches.
Died in Indiana, af Delphi, 1854.)

38 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
John Byers Alexander.* (Belonged to a patriotic family
in Carlisle, where he was born, April 21st, 1782. He became
a distinguished lawyer in Western Pennsylvania, and some
thing of a military enthusiast. He was in the war of 1812
with Great Britain, and served creditably under General Har
rison. He lived in Greensburg, the chief place of his forensic
efforts and triumphs, and there died. May 28th, 1840.)"

* Concerning General Alexander, Mr. Murray further states : " My most
distinct recollection of him was in or about the year 1833. There was a military
encampment on the commons at the foot of Seminary hill, Allegheny. General
Alexander was in command of it. It was the only time I ever saw Mr. Harmar
Denny in uniform, and one day he had Alexander to dine with him. He, Mr.
Denny, then lived at Kilbuck Hall, now the residence of his daughter, Mrs.
Eobert McKnight. I was standing on the porch, near Mrs. Denny, as the two
military officers approached together. She pleasantly received Alexander, and
then addressing her husband, smilingly remarked, ' Mr. Denny, you look well in
military dress.' (I thought he was the better looking of the two, as he was taller
and more slender.) Instantly Alexander elongated his person, expanded his
chest, and with an assumed commanding tone, exclaimed, ' Madame, why don't
you tell me that I look well in mine ?' ' General, you always look well,' was her
quick response." Mr. Murray then refers to an extended and interesting sketch
of General Alexander in "Albert's History of Westmoreland County," p. 311, etc.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 39

CHAPTER IIL
JUDGE Gibson's early friends — his marriage — services
IN THE LEGISLATURE — APPOINTED A COMMON PLEAS
JUDGE — HIS HOME IN CARLISLE.
Hon. Boyd Crumrine is in possession of a curious col
lection of Latin verses, probably exercises, of Judge Gibson,
written by him when a student. They are brief sentences,
devoted to mythological subjects, axioms, etc., each, as a rule, oc
cupying a page of a diminutive pamphlet which young Gibson
improvised by cutting and folding the sheets and stitching
them together with brown thread. Each of its thirty pages
is signed in his unmistakable handwriting. Several are dated,
and probably all were written, during the month of January,
1800. He had not apparently at that time determined upon
a signature, for we find him writing variously, John B.,
J. B., John Banister, Jno. Ban'r, etc. The name Bannister
he then wrote with one "n," but in the registry of his
family, the only place to be found where in later years he
gives it in full, he spells it with two "n's." The early or
thography employed by him was the correct one, as elsewhere
referred to. Throughout the exercises the infrequency with
which he dots the " i's " is noticeable, a habit which became
confirraed in after years. Mr. Crumrine obtained the papers
about twenty years ago from Mr. D. L. Wilson, of Sewickley,
Allegheny county, now retired from the law. Judge Gibson
possibly left them in Beaver in 1804, or what is more
])robable, his son Bannister carried them to Jefferson College,
Washington county, which institution he attended in 1836-8.

40 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
The following examples of the Latin verses are presented
with their recent free translations:
" Esse ebrium est alienum a dignitate generosi hominis quem decet esse im-
munem vitia." To be intoxicated is foreign to the dignity of a generous man
whom it behooves to be free from vice.
" Quis philosophorum sciver sciveunt omnia ?" What philosopher has
learned everything ?
" Sapientissime hominum possunt errare, ut stultiessimi hominum interdum
recte sentiunt." The wisest of men can err, just as the most foolish are some
times of correct opinion.
" Panci sunt semper similes sui impius est tam dissimilis Dei quam similis
diaboli." Few men are always true to themselves ; the impious man is unlike God
as he resembles the devil.
" Ille cujus saeculi sunt vacui nummia habet domum inanem amicorum et
tunicam plenam fissurarum." He whose pockets contain no money has a house
without friends and a cloak full of rents.
" Homo est praeditus coelesti animo ; qui captus pravis libidinibus nunquam
est contenus vera felicitate." Man is endowed with a divine mind ; he is a slave
to base passions, is never contented with true happiness.
" Diabolus iste hostis humain generis est primens ad malum ; gandet in-
venire animum proclivem ad impietatem.'' The devil is that euemy of the
human race that incites it to evil ; he delights to find a mind prone to evil.
" Stulti qui sunt pertinaces suae sententiae non erunt participes mei consilii."
Fools strongly attached to their opinions shall not partake of my deliberations.
Roger B. Taney of Maryland, afterwards chief justice of
the United States, graduated from this institution (1795)
only a year or two before Gibson was matriculated, while
the name of James Buchanan was borne on the rolls only
a few years later, graduating in 1809.
An anonymous writer, in a brief sketch of Gibson (Car
lisle Sentinel, July 3d, 1886), mentions that Judge Hugh H.
Brackenridge "took notice of the country boy attending
college, invited hira to his house, and opened to him the
treasures of the finest library here at that day. The delights
of this association he mentioned often in his family, and
spoke of Brackenridge with tenderness to the end of his
days." The fact that his preceptor Duncan, his friend Bracken-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 41
ridge, and himself were to occupy seats on the bench of the
Suprerae Court of the State is one of those strange coinci
dences forming a happy episode in the history of the Penn
sylvania judiciary. All three did not sit together, however,
Gibson's appointment coming iraraediately after Brack enridge's
death, but he preceded Judge Duncan several years. It has
been alleged that it was largely, if not chiefly the influence
of Judge Gibson with the governor that secured Duncan
the appointment.
It is seen, therefore, -that in the outstart of his pro
fessional life Gibson was given a helping hand by men oc
cupying high positions. There must have been something
meritorious in his case, otherwise these gentlemen would
hardly have been so kindly disposed towards him.
Judge Gibson left no diary or convenient autobiographic
paper or memoranda of any description which would enable
one to trace his history in detail. Such a sketch would
probably not be desirable even if it could be drawn, for
outside of the routine of his duties, his life was that of a
simple citizen, and for the most part it was uneventful.
The lives of all judges who remain long on the bench are,
in this respect, much the same. The whirl of business en
terprise and the excitement of politics does not disturb them
or engage their attention, except when clashing interests
which, if left unchecked, would lead to anarchy, are quieted
by their decrees. As a rule, therefore, the longer they live
the less are they popularly known, and the more dependent
on their real friends — the lawyers — for their advancement,
or continuance, in office.
When, in 1851, the judiciary in Pennsylvania became
elective, had it not been for the influence of the legal pro
fession, actively exerted, Judge Gibson would neither have
6

42 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
been nominated nor elected to the bench of the Supreme
Court. The fitness of candidates for judicial honors in
Pennsylvania is determined in the great majority of cases
by the lawyers who, in effect, carry the proxies of the people.
If this view be correct, the evils which Judge Gibson feared,
and Judge Porter and others have predicted, would result
from the change from the appointment to the elective sys
tem are not likely to be realized.
The following reference to the personality of judges, which
is taken from a notice of Judge Gibson in the New York
" Democratic Review" (May, 1853), is interesting in connection
with the point just alluded to :
"No judge can becorae extensively popular with the masses;
the very nature of his duties forbids it. His labors are all
in the desk. His most important functions are to be silent
and listen. When the populace see him, it is shrouded with
power and begirt with officers. If he acquires reputation,
it is with the few, chiefly lawyers, who are paid to read his
opinions, and to measure the length and breadth of his mind.
Hence it is very rare that a judge, who has held no other
place but a seat on the bench, ever attains to more than a
limited popularity. It is highly probable that we of this
age know Coke, Hale and Holt as well as did their re
spective cotemporaries. Judges live in the books of reports
— not in the huzzas of the crowd, or in the bulletins of
battles. There their labors are consecrated and there posterity
meets them face to face. When the sound of the orator's
voice is hushed and forgotten, when the thunders of battle
have died away and we only learn the name of the victor
frora the pages of some neglected historian, and when the
toils and cares of the statesman are laid to rest in his grave,
then will the laborious struggles of the judge with intri-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 43
cacies, subtleties and contradictions, in the retirement of his
study, still survive, and transmit to succeeding times his fame,
which was scarcely appreciated during that in which they
lived. * * * "C Who would exchange the glory of
Solon, Lycurgus and Numa for that of all the butchers of
their fellow men ?
'From Macedonia's madman to the Swede.'
To the same class of men Judge Gibson belonged ; and if
he did not originate any of the great precepts, maxiras and
principles of jurisprudence, he comprehended, expounded and
applied them with as much ability and success as any judge
of his time,"
Judges "need be neither pretentious nor conceited, and
probably few of them are, though the anonymous writer be
fore quoted thought he saw something of this in Judge
Gibson, as he quoted the opening sentence of his will in
justification of this conclusion: "I, John Bannister Gibson,
the last of the chief justices under the constitution of 1790."
Now, it may have been that this phraseology was purposely
employed, to express with the potency of "a voice from the
dead " his persistent conviction of the unwisdom of the elect
ive system of filling that office. But the fact is, his will,
which, if he had so designed, might have been made a fin
ished legal instrument, is generally considered to be a paper
of only ordinary literary merit. It is scarcely probable, there
fore, that he had the remotest idea of its attracting public
attention. Judge Gibson was married to Sarah Work Galbraith, at
the home of the latter's mother, Mrs. Barbara Galbraith,* in
Carlisle, October 8th, 1812,f in the presence of William
* Judge Black, as noticed elsewhere, was led into error as to the date of this
iparriage. t Mrs. Barbara Galbraith died November 7th, 1832.

44 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Wilkins, John Reynolds, Samuel Parker and others, by the
Rev. Henry Wilson. The Galbraith family were Presby
terians, and the Rev. Mr. Wilson was pastor of the First
Presbyterian church of that town. Colonel Andrew Gal
braith, father of Sarah, came from an excellent family, he
and one or more of his brothers having been officers in
the array during, the Revolution.*
* From " Pennsylvania Genealogies, Scotch and Irish," by William Henry
Egle, M. O. M. A., Harrisburg, 1886, the following is condensed from the history
of the Galbraith family :
James Galbraith (son of John G.), born 1666 in the north of Ireland, emi
grated to America 1718, settled in Connestoga (now Lancaster county, Pa.),
married Eebecca Chambers, and died August 23, 1744. [Possibly George Gib
son, the first, may have come " in the same ship " with the Galbraiths.]
Among their children was James Galbraith, born 1703 in Ireland ; he came
with his parents to Pennsylvania. James was married April 6th, 1734, in
Christ church, Philadelphia, to Elizabeth Bertram. He moved to East Penns-
boro township, Cumberland county, at the close of the Revolutionary war, where
he died June 11, 1786. Among their children was Andrew Galbraith, horn
1750, in Derry township, Lancaster county. Pa. He was married to Bar
bara Kyle (native of Lancaster county) in 1780.
This union was blessed by a family of eight daughters and two sons. Egle
forgot to speak of the wit, beauty and fine complexion of these ladies. Having
seen the life-sized portrait of Sarah, and of others of these equally once noted
belles of the Cumberland Valley taken in their younger days, and knowing most
of them in their latter years, the writer is prepared to believe they must have
formed a bevy of beauties, equalling any family group in these latter days.
Egle summarizes them in the following order :
Jean, born 1781, married Matthew Miller.
Elizabeth, born 1784, married Dr. Kelso, of Harrisburg, Pa., died April 8th,
1818. Juliana, born 1786, married William McNeil Irvine.
Mary, born 1789, married February 13th, 1810, Michael Ege.
Sarah, born January 25th, 1791, married J. B. Gibson ; died January 25th,
1861. Barbara, horn 1793, married a Mr. Gordon, of Georgia.
Dorcas, born 1795, died February 23, 1808.
Ann, born 1797, married Charles Hall, a Baltimore merchant ; she was a
widow in Carlisle for many years, where she died in 1858.
Their descendants are scattered throughout the country. The late Hon.
Frederick Watts, of Carlisle, married a daughter of Mary and Michael Ege.
There were two sons named Andrew and James, both of whom died in in
fancy ; Egle does not mention them.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 45
At the time of his marriage, Mr. Gibson was a member
of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and in the following year
was appointed by Governor Snyder judge of the newly
organized eleventh judicial district, composed of the counties
of Wayne and Luzerne. Judges HoUenbach and Fell were
associated with him on the bench of the latter county.
Gibson succeeded Judge (Jhapman.
In the paper* from which the above information was
obtained, there are given the following interesting particu
lars concerning his life in that quiet village:
"His residence was on Northampton, between Franklin
and Main streets, recently occupied by Dr. Wright. Natur
ally affable and easy of access, he united in manners the
familiar courtesy of the gentleman with the appropriate
dignity of his judicial station. Hence he became a general
favorite, while his patience to hear, his talent (without
seeming to hurry) to accelerate business, his fairness and
promptitude to decide, soon commanded universal confidence.
"In the hours of relaxation from the exercise of official
duties, and his law and literary reading, he seemed to take
especial pleasure in company with his scientific friend, the
late Jacob Cist, visiting different portions of the valley,
note its geological structure, particularly the extent and po
sition of the anthracite coal deposit,t then, from the praise
worthy experiment of Judge Fell and its fortunate result,
just beginning to emerge into importance ; and also, with
more than comraon curiosity and delight to visit the an
cient Indian fortifications. In one of their excursions to
examine the large fort on the plantation of Mr. James
*Wilkesbarre Record of Ihe Times, May, 1853, containing a notice of Judge
Gibson's public life, etc.
t Judge Gibson's wife often stated thatrthe first anthracite coal fires in Wilkes-
barre were in her house.

46 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Hancock, they found the medal of King George the First,
which, owing to their care, is yet happily preserved.
"As a Mason, he entered into the spirit of the society,
found pleasure in attending its communications, for he met
there nurabers of intelligent citizens, whose localities and
various pursuits could hardly have brought them elsewhere
together; and we think for a year or two his honor
presided as master of the lodge, 'as many a worthy brother
has done before him.'
"When called to the supreme bench, his departure was
regarded with emotions ,of mingled pleasure and regret.
All were glad at the occurrence of an event so propitious
to hira personally, and promising increased utility to that
elevated tribunal; yet all were sorry to part with him, as
a judge or as a citizen. His wife was a Miss Galbraith,
and during his residence, the visits of her sisters and other
female friends added to the social charms in the village,
less populous, and far more secluded from the busy world
than now."
This agreeable chronicler, who appears to have had an
intimate knowledge of Judge Gibson's social life, proceeds
to relate an occurrence in society life, in Washington, D.
C, bringing him out prominently in a Whig assemblage.
He says:
"One of the greatest trials of Judge Gib.son's life arose
from his political dissonance with, yet devoted personal at
tachment to, Henry Clay; like Governor Cass, we will not
say he idolized him, but both regarded the noble-spirited
Kentuckian as a nonpareil. While Mr. Clay was lying
under the vituperation of Judge Randolph's blistering tongue.
Judge Gibson visited Washington. The reciprocated re
gard, and the eminent official and political position of the

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 47
judge, rendered hira an object of special attention at Mr.
Secretary Clay's great party. In the midst of the persecu
tion, the fine figure and courtly bearing of. the chief justice
of Pennsylvania, and a distinguished leader in her Derao-
cratic ranks, waiting on Mrs. Clay the rounds through the
thronged rooms and brilliant assemblage, was at least a
partial triumph; but 'discipline must be preserved;' if not
in error. Judge Gibson headed the electoral ticket* for the
support of General Jackson, and the consequent ouster of
Mr. Clay and his friends."
Henry Clay having been mentioned, we will add an
incident of Judge Gibson's meeting with Daniel Webster,
which is remembered chiefly because of an amusing occur
rence connected therewith. The judge happening to be in
Boston upon one occasion, was invited to a banquet, and
among other distinguished guests was Webster. The gentle
men having placed their hats on the hat-rack, proceeded to
the dining table, where they sat long. In the midst of the
feast Webster, having been suddenly reminded of an im
portant engagement he must meet, quietly left the room.
On the following day, on the street, Gibson again met
Webster, who, espying his hat on the former's head, claimed
the privilege of an exchange. It appears that Webster had
taken the judge's brand new hat from the rack by mistake,
leaving his own, which was considerably the worse from
wear. Upon the adjournment of the party, the judge find
ing only one hat which fitted him, took it away, and
probably never would have noticed the exchange, had he not
been reminded of it by the raore observant Webster. Both
of these men had heads so remarkably large that from
* He did head the electoral ticket.

48 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
long experience, doubtless, neither thought such an acci
dental exchange of hats among the probabilities.*
The reference to the fact by the Wilkesbarre writer,
above quoted, of Judge Gibson's connection with the Ma
sonic fraternity, in answer to an inquiry directed by Judge
Mitchell, elicited the following reply frora Mr. Samuel C.
Perkins, of Philadelphia, dated October 11th, 1887:
"The late Hon. John Bannister Gibson was elected R.
W. Deputy Grand Master of the R. W. Grand Lodge of
F. and A. Masons, of Pennsylvania, St. John's Day (De
cember 27), 1821; re-elected December 27, 1822, and elected
R. W. Grand Master Deceraber 27, 1823, and served in
that office one year. He was admitted as a Master Mason
in Lodge No. 43, at Lancaster, Deceraber 20, 1811, but a
short tirae afterwards withdrew. Subsequently he connected
himself with Lodge No. 61, at Wilkesbarre, and was
Worshipful Master of the Lodge for two successive terras,
from December 27th, 1814, to December 27th, 1816."
Writing from Wellsboro, Pa., under date of November
17th, 1887, Judge Henry W. Williams, the recently elected
justice of the Supreme Court, contributes some interesting
data in relation to Judge Gibson's connection in early days
with the courts of Northern Pennsylvania.
From an entry on appearance docket "A," date Janu
ary 11th, 1813, Judge Williams copies the following:
"This being the day appointed by law for opening the
* Professor O. S. Fowler, in his " Self Instructor " (on Phrenology), mentions
the size of Judge Gibson's head as measuring twenty-four and one-fourth inches
in circumference ; Daniel Webster's he gives as twenty-four ; Henry Clay, twenty-
three; Napoleon Bomaparte, twenty -four inches (nearly). Of Burke and Jeffer
son he says, they had ''very large heads," and Franklin's was over twenty-
four inches in circumference. Twenty inches is the least size given for the male
adult compatible with a " fair degree of intelligence ;" twenty-two and one-third
inches he places as about the average for men.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY, 49
several courts of jurisprudence for the county of Tioga, the
Honorable John B. Gibson and his associates, Hons. Ira
Kilbourne and Samuel W. Morris, appeared and took their
seats as judges of the said courts. Whereupon the Hon.
John B. Gibson produced his commission under the great
seal of the State of Pennsylvania, constituting him presiding
judge of the eleventh judicial district of the said State,
coraposed of the counties of Tioga, Bradford, Susquehanna
and Wayne, which commission was read in open court, together
with the oath of office thereon endorsed.
"I find Judge Gibson held the courts in this county
until September Term, 1816. His successor was Thomas
Burnside, who was afterwards with him upon the bench
of the Supreme Court. Burnside was first on the bench in
this district on the 16th September, 1816. Among the at
torneys who practiced before Judge Gibson from 1813 to
1816 was Ellis Lewis, who afterwards sat with him on
the bench of the Supreme Court.
" The Eleventh district included this county during the
judicial services of Judges Gibson and Burnside as succes
sive president judges of the district. The term held by
Judge Gibson in January, 1813, was the first term ever held
in this county, and was held in a log house, which for
several years thereafter accommodated the courts of the
county. "
Referring to Judge Gibson's advent in the courts of
the northern part of the State the Wilkesbarre True Demo
crat, in May, 1853, says:
" He came araong us while the prejudices of the State
rested heavily upon this portion of Pennsylvania, from the
long and aggravated controversy that had existed between
the Connecticut settlers and those who claimed the soil and
7

60 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
the State of Pennsylvania. Hence the appointment of Judge
Gibson was to us most auspicious, as placing our destinies
in the hands of one whose views soared above any low or
narrow-minded prejudice." * * * "And we believe that
this distinguished jurist contributed essentially in mitigating
the feeling that ran in a strong current against the Con
necticut settlers, and which for a season almost shut out
our hopes of obtaining justice from the State authorities. "
* * * * "His sojourn with us has left deep and
iabiding impressions of respect for his commanding talents
and social virtues. His domestic and social habits, aside
from the able and just discharge of his oflScial duties, were
highly exemplary and amiable."

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 51

CHAPTEE IV.
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC INCIDENTS OP JUDGE GIBSOn's LIFE
AT HOME AND ABROAD.
After his elevation to the Supreme Court in 1816, Judge
Gibson moved his family to Carlisle, which place became
their permanent abode. As for himself his duties required
such constant traveling throughout the State that he could
scarcely be accounted more than a frequent sojourner in the
town. About the year 1820 he purchased the large brick
mansion on East Main street, which remained his home
until his death, which event, however, occurred in Phila
delphia May 3d, 1853 ; and there his widow resided until
her death, January 25th, 1861. The first payment on this
purchase was made from his wife's means.
In this house, with its large and comfortable apart
ments. Judge and Mrs. Gibson gave frequent entertainments
to their extensive circle of acquaintances and friends in the
town ; their hospitality extending, of course, to visitors and
friends from a distance. Entertaining was quite the thing
here, the Watts', Parker's, Biddle's, Armstrong's, Moore's,
Penrose's, Blaine's,* Stevenson's, Duncan's, Ege's, Hays',
Blair's, Thorn's, and others, vieing with each other in
their efforts to sustain the reputation which the old town
bore throughout central Pennsylvania for generous hospi
tality. In her youth Mrs. Gibson was considered a remarkably
* James G. Blaine's ancestors were from Carlisle, and moved to Fayette
county at an early period.

52 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
beautiful woman, as her portraits well testify to, and
throughout life she retained much of her fine appearance.
She was slightly over the medium in height, lithe and
graceful in movement, becoming more slender with advan
cing age. Her hair was a rich dark brown ; eyes hazel,
while her husband's, in contrast, were light blue. Although
delicate in appearance Mrs. Gibson, as a rule, enjoyed excel
lent health, and was always in the best of spirits, sociable
and cordial in manner. She was an earnest Christian and
devoted raother, an excellent letter writer, maintaining a
correspondence even with her absent grandchildren. Her
household duties she managed quietly. Servants drilled
under her supervision would, in these degenerate days of
"helps," could their like be found, be esteemed of price
less value, and yet she ruled by kindness alone, for never
did a loud or angry word escape her lips, yet nothing,
frora the vegetable garden to the cooking range and the
table, escaped her vigilant attention. She was just exactly
such a housekeeper as Marian Harland must have con
stantly in mind in her weekly chapters of instructions to
her readers. She entered with zest into every matter which
concerned her husband's welfare, and there can be no doubt
that he found in her a helpmate and counselor equal to
every emergency^ for certainly their natures were in perfect
harmony. A number of things happily conspired to make Carlisle,
in a social aspect, the most notable among the towns of
the central part of the State. First may be mentioned its
location in the midst of the Cumberland Valley, having
the Blue Mountain range in plain sight to the North, and
the South mountains (across which lies Gettysburg) equi
distant in the opposite direction ; and in a country famed

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 53
for the fertility of its soil, as^ well as for its salubrious
climate and beautiful scenery. Next it was a "barracks
town," at least so for very many years, which • .sufficiently
explains the fact that so many officers of the army found
their wives in Carlisle, and there some of thera have
sought retirement in their declining years. The ancient col
lege, with its well stocked libraries, gave a turn to the
literary tastes of the people, while its well-dressed under
graduates contributed to enliven the streets and add to the
festivities of the younger portion of the coraraunity. The
proximity of the Carlisle White Sulphur and Mt. Holly
springs made the place considerable of a resort during the
summer months, Baltimoreans being the more numerous
visitors. Society could not do otherwise than flourish amid
so many congenial surroundings, though so much cannot be
said for the business energy of the place. Harrisburg, a
two hours' drive distant over level roads, fast made inroads
on her claims of superiority in sociability, wit, and intel
ligence, and long ago developed into a manufacturing
city. In a recent number of the Philadelphia Times (March,
1887,) the Rev. A. Nevin, D. D., contributes an interest
ing sketch of the life of Chief Justice Gibson, from which
we make the following extract. It furnishes a pleasing pic
ture from Mr. Nevin's recollection of Judge Gibson's per
sonal appearance when he was in the prime of life. He
says: " We remember Judge Gibson well when as a student of
law in Carlisle, 1835-7, we saw him on his frequent
returns to his family during his official vacations. He was
of commanding presence, tall, well proportioned, in vigor
ous health, with an unusually large head and penetrating

54 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
eye; just such a man as would be singled out in a crowd
with a desire for knowledge of his name and acquaintance
with his history. There was a stateliness in his step, a
dignity in his bearing, and an abstractedness in his expres
sion, which bore the stamp of greatness and left the
observer no room to doubt that he had his rank among
the profoundest thinkers and ripest scholars of his age.
" Judge Gibson's preference, religiously, was for the Epis
copal Church. Whilst at home he was a regular attendant
upon the ministry of the church of that denomination in
the place. Often have we seen him in his pew taking
part in the liturgical services, and listening with interested
attention to the discourses of the rector. He had, no doubt,
been reared in a Christian family, and the influences and
impressions of his early training clung to him with increas
ing tenacity and moulding on the advance of life's journey.
We do not know that he was a professor of religion, but
we have a warrant for the conviction that he was a firm
believer in Christianity."
The time referred to by Doctor Nevin covers the
period of the construction of the Cumberland Valley rail
road from Harrisburg through Carlisle to Chambersburg,
one of the first roads built in this State, and in which the
judge took the liveliest interest. In common with the
majority of the citizens and stockholders resident in the
town, the judge, against the advice of Mr. Roberts, the
chief engineer of the company, and who about this time
married his second daughter (January 5th, 1837), favored
the construction of the line through the main street.
Railroads were such novelties at that time that those
who had a track at their front doors were envied by
others on the " back streets." Not long after the opening.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 55
however, Mr. Roberts writes in his reminiscences, a loco
motive attached to a train upon which he was a passenger,
became tediously delayed on its way up from Harrisburg,
and finally about midnight stopped for want of fuel and
water immediately in front of Judge Gibson's house. With
out disturbing any of the household, Mr. Roberts, with the
trainmen, found a way to the cellar and filled the tender
with some of the judge's seasoned hiijkory wood (the fuel
of the period), the water supply being drawn frora the
well in the meantime. Thus did the son-in-law early seek
to demonstrate that the regard the fathei^n-law had for
railroads at close quarters was not wholly unappreciated by
the "soulless corporation."
Judge Gibson had what would be considered in cities a
large garden in the rear of his house, in addition,^ to an
extensive lot in the suburbs. In these, while his opportuni
ties for horticulture were somewhat limited, he displayed
considerable ability in grafting and pruning fruit trees.*
Peaches were favorites with him, and he raised a few trees
whose fruit would have been entitled to a premium, had
fruit exhibitions been in vogue in his time. He did not
attempt to vie with his next door neighbor, and kinsman
by marriage, Hon. Frederick Watts, in these respects (Judge
Watts was the first president of the State Agricultural So
ciety, and later, under General Grant's administration. Com
missioner of Agriculture, and was distinguished as a scien
tific agriculturist), but Judge Gibson did enough to indicate
*In a letter from Philadelphia to his wife, he writes : " On Friday I ordered
one peach, one pear and two plum trees, and two hundred and fifty asparagus
roots. To-morrow I will order another pear and two peach trees, and call at the
house on Broad street to expedite them. I thought you had two beds of aspara
gus. If more should be needed, I shall add them, and send directions how to
plant the roots."

56 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
that if the Supreme Court was ever abolished, he could
from mother earth find congenial employment, and from her
bosom draw a generous livelihood.
It would be difficult to say to what his tastes, outside
of his profession, were most inclined. Judge Porter says,
quoting from Wood, the late celebrated actor : " Chief Justice
Gibson's sensibilities and tastes in the whole range of the
fine arts, music, architecture, painting, statuary and the
drama were hardly inferior to his uncommon intellectual
parts." There are many reasons for thinking had he not
chosen the law, that he would have been a physician.
Were an attempt made to draw a parallel between him
and others, I would mention the Emperor Dom Pedro
II of Brazil, whom I knew quite well by reason of a
protracted residence in his dominions, as more like Gibson
in versatility of knowledge than any other person I have
ever seen. This does not merely refer to a .general knowledge
of things which many acquire by reading, observation or
travel, but to the understanding of the men ; they had various
and soraetimes opposite aptitudes, or tendencies of disposi
tion. The emperor delights equally in the work of a chem
ical laboratory, or listening and taking part in geological
or archaeological discussions. Prof. Agassiz remarked to my
father, after meeting the Emperor of Brazil in 1864, that
his (the emperor's) knowledge of ichthyology, ornithology,
zoology, geology, botany, and other departments of natural
history, astonished him. Even among the faculty of special
ists jn the Rio University, he said he had not met his
equal. Agassiz might have added architecture, language and
numerous other accomplishments without going amiss. The
emperor's habit of mind was such that in almost any

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 57
department of research he could be content to become a
specialist and have few regrets for the past.*
We need not extend these observations, except to remark
that in his various tastes or aptitudes. Judge Gibson was
a conspicuous example of the capacity of human beings
to raaster general knowledge, and take equal delight in
many departments of information. He read French and
Italian easily, while through life he maintained the hold on
the classics which he acquired at college.
He was a dextrous mechanic, and constantly kept a set
of light tools at hand, with which he would undertake the
ordinary repairs needed about his house and garden, and
whatever of this he commenced, he finished in a neat and
substantial raanner, as would become a skilled workman,
A lady friend of his, meeting him in Philadelphia at
her own house, had occasion to notice his perfect teeth.
He was at the time quite seventy years old, while she was
much younger. Her teeth were giving her a great deal of
trouble, and she was considering the advisability of having
a false set made. "Judge," she finally remarked, "may I
take the liberty of asking the name of the dentist who
furnished your teeth ? They are so natural in appearance
that I don't mind telling you in strict privacy that I would
like to have him raake rae a set, for I require them badly."
To this the judge replied; "Well, my dear madam, you
are mistaken in regard to my teeth. They are my own,
and have been used by me since I was a boy." No doubt
he made compensaticm for the surprise and chagrin he
caused his friend, by relating the facts concerning his teeth,
which are somewhat curious and interesting.
* Since the above was written his crown has been removed, but the emperor
has " few regrets for the past," for he has expressed his willingness to become a
private citizen. 8

58 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
It is not uncommon with persons possessing good di
gestion to retain their teeth until old age. In such cases
they loosen from their sockets^ one after another, and actu
ally drop out and often become lost. At the period Judge
Gibson's first tooth loosened, he fastened it by means of a
clamp of fine wire to its neighbors. But as one tooth fol
lowed another in loosening, he was for a long time con
stantly tinkering up coupling attachments, until at last the
entire upper set was held in place solely by the eye teeth,
which remained secure longer than the others. Finally
when these also loosened, he was nonplussed, and for the
first time consulted a dentist in Philadelphia, who told him
that nothing could be done but to have a false set made.
He was determined, however, never to use false teeth whilst
he had in his pocket such a perfect set, the gift of nature.
Returning to Carlisle he called upon Dr. George Hendel, a
dentist of that place, noted for his inventive resources and
mechanical ^kill. Hendel could propose no way to use the
natural teeth, but the judge, not to be discouraged, started
to work himself, in the dentist's office, and with the latter's
appliances and assistance, in a few days' time adapted a
peculiar plate to his own teeth, which he wore with com
fort to' the end of his days. Dr. Hendel, some years after
wards, at a meeting of dentists in Philadelphia, mentioned
this feat of Judge Gibson's as a triumph of ingenuity un
heard of in the dental profession.
After this performance the judge secured a complete set
of dentist's tools, including a small vise which could be
adjusted to his writing table. For want of human subjects
he contented himself with experimental fillings in the teeth
of various kinds of animals, and occasionally the teeth of
some of Dr. Hendel's patients. This light, but intricate,
mechanical work, seemed to afford him all the recreation
he desired in the long period of his study hours.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 59

CHAPTEE V.
JUDGE Gibson's fondness of the drama — musical and
ARTISTIC ABILITIES.
Judge Porter in his essay refers to Judge Gibson's
occasionally quoting from Shakespeare in his official opin
ions. The judge was a student and admirer of the great
poet; fond, also, of music and the drama. Frora what we
know of his father we can readily believe that he, also,
was a "patron of the draraa" in the early days of theat
ricals in Philadelphia. Judge Gibson was not only an
admirer, but also a critic, of no mean order, of the dra
matic art as portrayed in his time. Traveling so much,
he would naturally, at the hotels, make the acquaintance
of the stars who at this period traveled frequently alone.
For the elder Joseph Jefferson, father of the present
inimitable " Rip Van Winkle, " he appears to have had a
very special regard. Concerning this friendship Mr. Wood,
in his " Personal Recollections of the Stage," refers at
some length, quoting also a letter from the chief justice,
who had written lo him for information to aid in writing
the epitaph for the tomb of Jefferson at Harrisburg, which
he and Judge Rogers then designed erecting. (See Appen
dix D.)
This unostentatious act of two of the judges of the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania would never have been
known to the world but for Mr. Wood's publication.
Under date of April 30th, 1887, a correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial- Gazette, writing from Harrisburg, thus

60 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
feelingly describes a visit by Jefferson to the tomb of his
distinguished father :
"The figure of a raan farailiar to Harrisburg theater
goers, and to every theater-goer in the country, strolled
about the labyrinthine walks of Mt. Kalraia cemetery a
few days ago when the sun was brightest and warmest,
and the birds and flowers seemed pleased in the presence of
spring. He wandered from grave to grave, closely scanning
the inscriptions on the marble slabs, until he came to a
lowly tomb that stands between twin oaks so tall that they
seem to pierce the sky.
" ' Here it is,' he said to a companion. ' The surround
ings have been somewhat changed, but here is the sarae
iron fence, and there (pointing to the inscription on the
slab that covered the tomb) is the epitaph, one of the
grandest compositions in the English language.' The speaker
was Joe Jefferson, the actor, visiting the grave of his
father, who is remembered by the old inhabitants of the
country, and whose funeral here more than half a century
ago was attended by the most prominent men in the State.
The grave of this once famous actor is covered with a
plain marble slab, on which is the epitaph, composed by
John Bannister Gibson, at that time the chief justice of
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
********
"In 1882 Jefferson saw the grave of his father for the
first time. He was filling an engagement here, and the day
was bitter cold. With a hatchet and chisel he removed the
ice from the slab, and with tears in his eyes read the
beautiful lines which Justice Gibson wrote. Since then the
grave has been kept neat, and is frequently visited by
prominent actors and those who remember the illustrious

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 61
Reference has already been made to the fact that Judge
Gibson was a violinist, and various stories have been told
of the troubles his "fiddle" got him into in various parts
of the State while holding court, but these, for the greater
part, are innocent fictions. Judge Porter, his ardent friend
and adrairer, makes allusions to the fact and evidently con
sidered it not exactly a blot or blemish on an otherwise
"fair character," though he seems to have felt sorry he
could not enter a denial of the impeachment, arid reluct
antly admitted the guilt of his client. So also does Judge
Agnew, in his anecdotal letter, which elsewhere appears,
confirm at least one of these stories. The fact is, he was
a superior violinist. While it was rarely that he could be
prevailed upon to give an exhibition of his powers in com
pany or away frora horae, he frequently accompanied his
daughters, particularly Mrs. McClure, on the piano, playing
the most intricate and difficult pieces with ease. His pref
erence, however, was for solos, and with these he would
sometimes beguile himself in the privacy of his library.
He would often suddenly cease his work upon an
opinion and while wooing the muses with his violin con
tinue his meditations on a law point, and when that was
definitely formulated as suddenly lay it aside and return to
his writing. Those gifted with marked .ability seem able
to call into being, by the aid of harmonious sounds, a
spirit with which they can commune. Many whose ears
are susceptible to such influences have been carried by Ole
Bull on his violin into realms where their own fancies
never could have soared, so that when musicians speak of
" inspiration " they mean exactly what they say. The same
flights of imagination are experienced by the scientific cigar
smoker when he lolls back in his chair to observe the

62 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
rings and curling wreaths of smoke ascending from his
cigar, and hence we never see them smoke in the dark, or
in the open air, unless the day be calm, . but to the untu
tored ear, or eye, as the case may be, all this is unintel
ligible gibberish.
That eludge Gibson was passionately fond of good music
we may believe from the following extract of a letter of
his to his wife : " It is supposed Jenny Lind will visit
Philadelphia some time in the spring, but not in tirae for
me to hear her. The disappointment would kill me." *
A grandson of the judge writes: "I remember quite
distinctly that grandfather was an excellent piano tuner.
Now real excellence in this particular is rarely attained.
The whole business is complex, and a correct and discrim
inating ear is a first requisite, and this he had to perfec
tion. I use the above terms advisedly, because in. tuning a
piano the "fifths" are tuned a little out of tune, the object
of which I will not take time to explain. But here a
discriminating ear coraes in, and just how much to tune
these fifths out of tune, so that the "thirds," "sixths,"
etc., and octaves come correctly from first hearings is the
art of tuning to a nicety. I have seen his large form
bending over a piano by the hour, and wondered how
he could possibly stand the fatigue, and also wondered how
such a big raan could hit the little bits of high notes so
nicely when tuning."t
* Dated 23 March, 1851.
t The above is from W. Milnor Eoberts, of Cumberland, Maryland. He was
fifteen years old at the time of his grandfather's death, but even then gave token
of his own skill as a violinist, having been under the instruction of teachers from
the age of eight years, his grandfather taking especial interest in the " family
prodigy." Following the above, Mr. E. says : "Once when the Supreme Court
was being held in Pittsburgh and most of the judges made the Monongahela
House their home, mother happened to be stopping at the same hotel. I was sit
ting in grandfather's room. No. 19 (old style), as I very well remember, watching

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 63
Alraost every school-boy essays at some time to become
an artist or perchance a poet, and fills the blank leaves
of his books with sketches or rhymes as he feels himself
moved either by the influence of "Calliope" or "Euterpe."
Young men differ in the extent to which they go, and the
mode of worshipping their favorite Muse, though nearly all
of them fall from grace when they find themselves fairly
launched on the cold, cruel and bustling world to combat for
a living. Judge Gibson formed no exception to the rule.
The fact in his case is that he must have experienced a par
ticularly strong inspiration for art during his boyhood years,
for notwithstanding the straitened circumstances of the
family, and the relatively high price of artists' materials,
he obtained them, and finished during this period several
rather pretentious oil paintings. While he never had a
teacher he appears, as is rather strange to relate, to have
commenced with and confined his efforts to portraits and
historical scenes.
He was, no doubt, aware of the great name and repu
tation his Delaware county relative, Benjamin West
(afterwards knighted Sir Benjamin West), acquired in Eng
land, and like him, may have used charcoal on barn doors
for the exercise of his genius at its dawnings, though he
him in his shirt sleeves writing. Suddenly he looked up and said : ' Boy, have
you got your fiddle with you ? ' I answered yes. ' I want to hear you play
it,' he replied, and I ran after it. Being the first I ever owned, I was proud of it,
and was anxious to hear his superior judgment of its qualities. After playing
one of my then favorite airs, he picked it up to try it himself. He ran his fin
gers nimbly over^the strings and then threw my cherished ' Cremona ' down on
the bed, exclaiming, ' Pah ; I wouldn't give a shilling for a cart load of such
fiddles' (his very words). QThen bidding me to wait until he came back, he
shortly returned from Kleber's store where he had purchased a violin and box,
which he had carried through the streets himself, and presented to me. I have
still in my collection both of those violins, and as you well know, grandfather's
matchless and veritable Cremona, which not only as an heir-loom, but as well on
account of its intrinsic merits, is of priceless value."

64 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
never displayed an inclination to emulate the career of that
distinguished cousin.
Of the two Gibson paintings which still exist, one rep
resents Pulaski mounted on horseback, believed to have been
painted when a boy of about fourteen years. The sketch
(which may have been a copy from some print) was possi
bly suggested from what he had heard his father say of
the distinguished Polish count, who sacrificed his life at the
siege of Savannah in 1779, where also fell Sergeant Jasper,
the hero of Moultrie, in the cause of American liberty.
The other work, which was also his last painting, was
made under interesting circumstances. While a law student
at Carlisle, and at about the age of twenty-one or twenty-
two, he took advantage of a holiday period to visit his
mother at the old home on the banks of Sherman's creek,
with the intention of going on a deer hunt in the. moun
tains. It so happened, however, that it rained all the time
that he was at home, so that he was kept within doors,
where for amusement and pastime he painted on a poplar
board his own likeness in miniature and profile.*
The Bible says, "like unto a man beholding his natural
face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his
way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he
was."t The greatest portrait painters have acknowledged
this homely truth, for many and woeful have been their
attempts to paint their own likenesses. Between a look in
the mirror and a glance at the canvas before them is but
the briefest of periods, but in that moment memory is apt
* From a recent letter written in the old house by Frank W. Gibson, a
nephew of the judge. Mr. Gibson, since writing the above, has forwarded Judge
Gibson's two paintings, also a full sized portrait of Colonel George Gibson, Judge
Gibson's father, to Pittsburgh, for presentation to the Allegheny County Law
Library, where they now repose.
t James 1; V. 23, 24.

JUDGE GIBSON'S PORTRAIT OF HIJV\SELF.

Original now in the Allegheny County Law Library.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 65
to fail, and the otherwise deft pencil hesitates, or goes
astray. Providence may have thus designed men, with
special reference to handsome or conceited artists, to keep
them from mounting on the shoulders of their Caesars, Alex
anders, Napoleons or Washiugtons, their own more com
placent physiognomies. A few of them have succeeded, and
on the above hypothesis they must have deserved success,
and Judge Gibson's early friends united in saying that he
had made a success in painting his own likeness, while the
few in latter years, who have seen this work and whose
critical knowledge entitles their opinions to respect, are
agreed that as a mere specimen of art it possesses very
considerable merit, displaying what sorae of them think a
genius, not only for outline work, but in treatment of de
tail and coloring as well.* The photo-engraving presented is
one-quarter size of the original painting. f
In after years Judge Gibson occasionally eraployed his
abilities in rapid pen and ink sketches, and as Judge Porter
says, amused his brethren on the bench sometimes with
Nast-like pictures of some tiresome speaker in his most
habitual or characteristic attitude. But he would have been
the last of men to have employed such a talent in a ma
licious manner or for a vindictive purpose. The writer
purposely refrains from dwelling on the attributes of heart
of his subject, although memory, and knowledge acquired,
* Mr. John W. Beatty, a prominent artist of Pittsburgh, in the art columns
of TKe Bniletin, a Pittsburgh society journal, speaking of this picture says : " It
is not only a work of decided merit, but also of unusual interest because of the
painter and circumstances under which it was painted. * * * The features,
and especially the hair, are rendered with much delicacy and refinement."
¦j- Chief Justice Eichardson of the Massachusetts Court of Claims has in his
possession what is described to be a very fine portrait of an ex-president of Yale
College painted by its subject.
9

66 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
would justify him in placing the highest estimate on these
characteristics of his nature.
In dismissing this topic, it is proper to say that Judge
Gibson took no pride whatever in his "art work," if it
may be so termed. The youthful eflusions of his pencil
and brush have remained, until a very recent date, in the
secluded spot where they were born, and nothing from his
hands was ever seen upon the walls of his home in Car
lisle. There, however, he had collected a limited number
of paintings and choice engravings, which indicated a dis
criminating judgment and cultivated taste. Financial inabil
ity, rather than lack of disposition, alone interfered to pre
vent his collection reaching to the importance and dignity
which one naturally supposes belongs to a private gallery.
None of Judge Gibson's family were aware of the fact,
if it be a fact, until after his death, that he had provoked
the Muses so far in his latter days as to attempt a poem.
Judge Porter, in his essay, prints the production and im
putes it to hira, and at intermittent periods the student of
forgotten^ lore delving in old files of newspapers brings it
to life.- We have traced it to its first appearance, and
there finding it accompanied with an editorial note vouch
ing for its authorship, feel warranted in again presenting
the pleasing hexameter lines which make the rounds as the
accredited production of his pen. From the Model American
Courier, 1853 or 1854.
"We were not aware that the late eminent jurist. Judge
Gibson, ever 'dallied with the Muses nine,' nor does it
appear that it was his frequent custom, though a fair and
esteemed correspondent furnishes us with the following brief
note, 'an exception to the general rule in the case:'

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 67
A. McMakin, Esq., Philadelphia:
My Dear Sir : — Enclosed you will find an autograph
poem of the late Chief Justice Gibson, the only poetry he
ever perpetrated, and presented to me a short tirae before
his death. Yours respectfully,
A. R. E.
EETEOSPECTION.*
On re-visiting the dilapidated birth-place of the author, after an absence of ¦
many years. BY JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
(A first and last attempt.)
The home of my youth stands in silence and sadness.
None that tasted its simple enjoyments are there ;
No longer its wall rings with glee and with gladness;
No strain of blithe melody breaks on the ear.
The infantile sport in the shade of the wildwood.
The father who smiled at the games of the ball ;
The parent still dearer who watched o'er my childhood,
Eeturn not again at afiection's fond call.
And the garden — fit emblem of youth's fading flowers —
No fawn-footed urchin now bounds o'er its lawn ;
The young eyes that beamed on its rose-colored bowers,
Are fled from its arbors — forever are gone.
Why memory cling thus to life's jocund morning —
Why point to its treasures exhausted too soon.
Or tell that the buds of the heart at the dawning
Were destined to wither and perish at noon ?
On the past sadly musing, oh pause uot a moment ;
Could we live o'er again but one bright sunny day,
'Twere better than ages of present enjoyment.
In the mem'ry of scenes that have long passed away.
But time ne'er retraces the footsteps he measures —
In fancy alone with the past can we dwell ;
Then take my last blessing, lov'd scene of young pleasures,
Dear home of my childhood — forever farewell.
* For further information regarding the authorship of this poem, see Appen
dix E.

68 JOHN bannister GIBSON.

CHAPTEE VI.
A SKETCH OP GEORGE WASHINGTON — JUDGE GIBSOn's WEALTH
— FONDNESS OF HIS CHILDREN — PRESIDENT JACKSON
WANTED HIM ON THE SUPREME BENCH — REFUSED A
GOLDEN GIFT — THE HARMONY SOCIETY CASE — KEEPING
JAMES BUCHANAN AWAKE.
Perhaps the only time that Judge Gibson ever saw
Washington was in 1794, during his second term of the
presidency, when a division of the American army, 10,000
strong, was assembled at Carlisle, where it was inspected
by the president prior to its march to suppress the Whis
key Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania. Washington re
mained some time in Carlisle, but did not accompany that
portion of the array which finally marched to Pittsburgh.
Gibson, at this period, was a boy of but fourteen years,
but in later life he wrote the • following interesting descrip
tion of the scenes he had witnessed:
"The rendezvous of the northern division of the army,
by far the strongest, was at Carlisle, where the president
joined it as commander-in-chief. Passing through the town
without dismounting at the quarters proposed for him, he
proceeded at once, under an escort of New Jersey dragoons,
to the plain at the south of it, where ten thousand volun
teers, the flower of the Delaware, New Jersey and Penn
sylvania youth, were drawn up to be reviewed by him.
Finer looking fellows were, perhaps, never brought into
line, and their uniforms, arms and accoutrements were
splendid. But the observed of all observers was General

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 69
Washington. Taking off his small revolutionary cocked hat,
and letting it fall at his side with inimitable grace, he
rode slowly along the front, receiving, with a puff of mil
itary pride, the salute of the regiments with drums and
colors, of the officers with swords and spontoons, and of
private soldiers with presented arms. His eye appeared to
fall on every man in the line, and every man in the line
appeared to feel that it did so. No man ever sat so nobly
in a saddle, and no man's presence was ever so dignified."
To a boy, as the writer then was, it was an impressive
spectacle. (Coll. Hist. Soc. Pa. I, 349.)
In business matters Judge Gibson would hardly have
been considered, according to present standards, a successful
speculator. What little he managed to save from his salary
in the course of many years, including also his wife's
dower, with corapounded interest amounted, at the tirae of
his death, to about $21,000, besides his property in Car
lisle, which would swell the total to possibly $30,000.
He had investments in " Mine Hill " and other lucra
tive railroad stocks, from the interest of which he increased
the number of his shares from time to time. Upon one
occasion General Wm. Robinson, of Allegheny City, gave a
dinner party to him and Judge Rogers, and perhaps others
of the Supreme Court. One of the judges had occasion
to remark to the general, that leading a migratory life —
"half in the stage-coach, half on the bench" — they sel
dom saw opportunities to make investments which would
" double up " so rapidly as had some of his (the gen
eral's) and others of their friends. The general with his
abiding faith in the future of his native city, in which
he was the first white child born, replied that near them,
right on Federal street, and opposite his own house, was

70 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
an extensive lot (later the property partially covered by the
present Girard House) then for sale, and as Allegheny was
bound to grow, why not buy it? Judges Gibson and
Rogers acted upon the hint and shortly afterwards the
property in question was transferred to them for a con
sideration of about $5,000.
Unfortunately soon after their purchase a flood from the
Allegheny river covered it several feet, and the barber and
other tenants demanded and obtained, a reduction of rents.
All the rest of Allegheny appreciated in value, but a fatality
seemed to hang over "the Supreme Court lot." Several
years after Judge Gibson's death his heirs obtained for his
share of this property the precise amount of his original
investment. Since the sale the property has steadily advanced
in value until to-day it is worth fully $125,000. General
Robinson was not to blame. This only goes to prove that
the successful man cannot impart the rules of his success
to others. If General Robinson had bought this property
either the flood would not have come, or he would have
sold it for a ship yard or a swimming school, and rents
would never have declined.
The case of Elias Spiedel vs. The Harmony Society at
Economy, Beaver county. Pa., recently pending in the Supreme
Court of the United States, recalls to mind a characteristic
anecdote of Judge Gibson. One Schrieber had a similar
case against the same society, whicli was ruled upon by
Judge Gibson in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. This is
the case of an expelled member of the society, after many
years through his heirs suing for services rendered and
accrued interest. In the Schrieber case Judge Gibson
decided in favor of the society.
Shortly after making the decision the judge received in

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 71
Carlisle an anonymous letter containing a hundred dollar
note with thanks for services rendered. He could not
imagine from whom it came, but as a precaution, he took
it to the postofiice, and in the presence of his friends,
Wm. Riddle and Wm. Penrose, handed it to the post
master with a disclaimer. Shortly after this presents of
various kinds of wines from Economy were sent to hira.
It then occurred to him that all these things were coming
from Mr. Rapp, the president of the Economite soeiety,
and to him he returned the wine, and no doubt saw to it
that the money was also returned, with a cautionary note,
explaining that no matter what might be the custom in
continental countries judges in this country were bound to
give their decisions without the hope of being rewarded by
either side. He had feared at first that sorae secret eneray
with a villainous purpose was designing in this way to
injure his character, and it was a great relief to hira to
finally discover that the motive was friendly, though founded
upon a lamentable ignorance of the proprieties governing the
judiciary in Pennsylvania.
No one could have been more affectionate or more fond
of the merabers of his faraily than was Judge Gibson. He
delighted to have his children about him, and he was
never austere in his behavior towards them ; so, while they
both loved and respected him, they raanifested little of that
fear of parents which many insist children should have.
When his daughters Margaretta and Annie were of the
mischievous age of the children described by Longfellow in
his beautiful poera, "The Children's Hour," they played a
trick on their respected parent which will illustrate the
fear they entertained of him. He was at his library table
busily engaged in writing, and, abstracted as usual, was an

72 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
easy prey. With their busy needles and thread they sewed
all manner shapes and sizes of colored rags to his coat
tails, and even on his back, and having completed their
task notified their mother that their father desired to see
her. Just what then happened must be left to the imag
ination, but nowheres is it on record that those naughty
girls were punished.
His love for his brothers Francis and George was equally
tender and affectionate, and throughout their long lives this
trio of brothers lived in perfect accord. General George
Gibson usually went to Carlisle to spend the month
of October as his holiday from his office in Washing
ton, and whenever possible, even if it were only for a
day or two. Judge Gibson would steal away from the
Supreme Court and the two would drive over into Perry
county to hunt and fish with their older brother Frank.
George could shoot quail and pheasants on the wing
until after his seventieth year and was a thorough-going
sportsman both with gun and rod. The judge had been
a great rifle shot in his youth but did not keep up his
sportsmanship in his latter years, preferring to rest, and the
society of his brothers quietly at the old homestead on the
occasions of these reunions.
As noticed in the appendix, George had been an intimate
friend of General Jackson, and it is a fact that so
much did President Jackson admire the general's brother
that he often said that he desired to make the judge chief
justice of the United States. Certain "political combina
tions" alone overruled Jackson's determination in this
matter. Had one more vacancy occurred on the U. S.
Supreme bench during his term the place would have been
tendered to Gibson without a doubt.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 73
It may not be profitable to speculate on events which
never came to pass, the "might have been" of men's lives,
but of Judge Gibson's capacity for that "higher sphere," to
which he possibly never actually aspired, the following from
the sarae article in the Democratic Review of New York,
raay be taken as voicing the sentiment of his friends :
"Had Judge Gibson been transferred to the Supreme
Court of the United States, in early life, where he would
have found scope for his talents and a theater worthy of
his ambition, he would have won a name and left a repu
tation second only to that of John Marshall. It is to be
regretted that capacity such as his should have languished
in comparative obscurity, and that intellectual might, able
to have ' split the gnarled oak,' should have been forced
by circumstances to fritter away its energies and its powers
in polishing pebbles and in pointing pins. Let not this
illustration mislead our readers. We do not design to be
understood to assert that all the business of the Supreme
Court of a State is of this trivial nature. Though much of
it is, there are cases sometimes arising which may well
command the utmost grasp of thought of the first judge
that ever adorned any judicial seat. On such occasions
Judge Gibson was truly great, and proved beyond cavil
that no legal question was too intricate or too vast for his
comprehension." General Gibson confidently relied upon the appointment
being made, and he often spoke of it after the judge's death
to his friends, who nightly assembled at his comfortable
rooms near the War Department, in Washington City. The
place was the rendezvous of the veteran officers of the war
of 1812, the Creek and Seminole war, and the Mexican
wars, and the writer can refer to a two weeks' visit spent
10

74 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
with the old soldier in January, 1861, shortly before his
death, as the period during which was then stamped upon
his memory a number of matters of interest he has en
deavored to develop in this paper.
The general used to relate with much zest a story he
got from his brother Bannister, which, while good of itself,
illustrates a phase of Judge Gibson's character which prob
ably might have shocked the more staid of his admirers
had they heard it during the judge's lifetime. To them it
would fit Lincoln, but never "a dignified judge," but being
undoubtedly true, it must be given.
In making the circuit of the State the Supreme Court
judges were usually accompanied by a number of lawyers
and interested parties, so that it was not uncommon that
the arrival of so many persons at one time in some of the
towns where court was to be held crowded the hotels to
the limit of their capacity.
On one of these occasions James Buchanan was traveling
with the judges, and when the party reached the hotel, was
assigned to the same room with Judge Gibson. The judge
being tired from the effect of the journey, retired early to
bed, but Buchanan having papers to prepare before the
assembling of the court next day, sat writing near the
judge's bed until a very late hour. The light prevented
the judge from sleeping, and when Buchanan finally retired,
the former gentleman was "past his sleep". In a short
time the sonorous breathing of his room-mate gave assur
ance that he was wrapped in the arms of Morpheus. The
judge then began to compare his ill fortune that night
with that of his more lucky room-mate, but gradually ad
miration for his friend's somnolence, as the weary hours
dragged towards the dawn, gave way to envy, and as mis-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 75
ery loves company, he at last resolved to disturb the bliss
ful dreams of " Pennsylvania's favorite son."
This was a cruel thing to do, but the learned judge
was about this time in no frame of mind to weigh such
a consideration. Within reach of his hand, as he lay in
bed, was the cord operating the Venetian blinds of one of
the windows. Most people are probably aware of the fact
that these Venetian blinds, if drawn up and suddenly
dropped several feet, produce a sound in every respect as
loud and otherwise similar to an irregular volley of mus
ketry. Cautiously he pulled up the blinds almost to their
full limit, and suddenly letting go the cord, there came
the expected rattling crash. Buchanan was bolt upright in
bed in an instant, and though dazed and bewildered for a
moment, very quickly called to the judge to know "what
under heavens had broken loose." Simulating one suddenly
awakened, he asked what his friend wanted, but although
Buchauan endeavored to explain the nature of the sound
which had so suddenly awakened hira, the judge assured
him that no such sound had disturbed his repose, and
suggested that possibly his late supper had produced indi
gestion, and the sound might have been a figment of his
friend's imagination. Thus assured, Buchanan again courted
sleep, and proved his success in the suit very shortly with
raost contented snores. But again the demon curtain ascend
ed, and again it came down with its hish ! crash ! bang !
Buchanan, as before, jumped up, and in the grey light of
the dawn the judge saw hira standing in the middle of
the floor. In evident great excitement he called: "Judge,
did you hear that ?" but no answer coming, he approached
the latter's bed, and this time calling more loudly, awak
ened (?) the judge, who, yawning, asked what was the

76 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
matter with his friend. No explanation of Buchanan's could
convince him that there had been an earthquake, or that
the ceiling had come down, or that burglars had forced
the door. Only with the utmost difficulty could he pre
vent him from awakening the house, the judge assuring him
that if he did so their fellow-lodgers might think his
wits had deserted him. Buchanan slept no more. How he
managed his case that day was not told by • the general,
but he unconsciously revenged himself on Judge Gibson at
a later period, when he urged upon President Jackson the
appointment of Roger B. Taney to the chief justiceship of
the United States, at the time Jackson was meditating the
appointment of Gibson to that office.
To his limited fund of anecdote ex-Chief Justice
Daniel Agnew has sent the following welcome additions :
Beaver, March 18th, 1887.
My Dear Sir :
I have your letter of the 16th inst. written at the sug
gestion, as you say, of my friend John H. Hampton,
Esq. I ara sorry that my, memory does not revive some of
the things I have heard of the "great chief justice"
John Bannister Gibson. It would give me pleasure to con
tribute anything interesting. * * * v,* *
There is not a single person now living who could recall
a knowledge of Judge Gibson's short residence here in
1804-5. I came here in 1829 and even then heard but
little beyond the fact of his admission to the bar here.
I remember an anecdote told of his sojourn in Beaver,
but when and how I heard it I cannot recall. After
Burnside came upon the supreme bench (he and Gib-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 77
son had been former friends) they were speaking of their
ages; Gibson stated his, Burnside said: "Gibson, you are
a year older," and to prove it enumerated the place and
times where and when Gibson had lived, and said, inter
alia, " and then there was the year you were at Bea
ver." Gibson stopped him, saying : " My God, Burnside,
don't bring that up against me, it ought not to be
counted." The tradition is he spent that time fiddling
in his office.
This reminds me of a story told of him when a judge
in a northern district of Pennsylvania. He carried his
favorite violin with him. On a Sunday, forgetful of the
sacred day, he got out his instrument and was discoursing
sweet sounds (for tradition is he was a good musician).
Presently his landlord, a church member (in that day
whiskey and religion often dwelt together), carae rushing
up to his room crying, " Judge ! Judge ! for God's sake
quit that ; you will ruin the reputation of my house."
Gibson laid down the magic toy, saying : " Oh, forgive
me ; I really had forgotten this was Sunday."*
In my early practice in the Supreme Court, John R.
Shannon, a very worthy gentleman, was arguing a cause.
He was an involved speaker. He had spoken a long tirae
and stopped, saying : " Now, if the court understands me  "
* Judge Gibson's wife was asked by an intimate friend concerning the
correctness of this very story related by Judge Agnew, and she denied its
truth. It seemed something "shocking" for her to think of, and we believe it is
a fact that the judge himself also denied it. But what matters that ? Who
would believe Washington if he lived to-day and denied the authenticity of the
story of the little hatchet, for has not the hatchet itself been found and exhibited
in museums ? So also does Judge Gibson's fiddle still exist (though only on private
exhibition). The fact that he carried such a " weapon " about him is evidence
that he was prepared to use it to the injury of his fellows. No judge of the
Supreme Court since his time we believe has been a fiddler ; such has been the
excellent influence of this story, whether true or false.

78 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
"Stop a moment, Mr. Shannon,'-' said the chief justice; "I
think we possibly understand you now, but if you continue
longer I fear we shall not."
The following I heard told of my colleague the late
Justice Henry W. Williams: In arguing a case before the
Supreme Court he dealt in a sort of double pronged argu
ment. Said the chief justice, who probably knew as many
games at cards as some kinds of law : " Mr. Williams,
that reminds me of branching in vingt-un." " What,
your Honor ? " " Branching in vingt-un." Williams looked
amazed. " I do not understand the illustration." Judge
Shaler being present rose, seeing Williams' dilemma. " If
your Honors please, my friend Williams is a good lawyer,
but his education in the branch of learning your Honor
refers to has been sadly neglected."
A gentleman in conversation with Gibson one day said :
"Mr. Chief Justice, I observe you are a good listener; this
must be very encouraging to those who address the court?"
"Ah," said Gibson, "that is an art, sir, an acquisition, to be
able to look one right in the eye and seem to hear all, yet
lost in your reflections, to hear nothing; that, sir, is the
very acme of judicial ability."
An illustration was this: A lawyer addressing the court
caught the eyes of the chief justice fixed upon him, and saw
him now and then noting something on a paper before him.
After he finished he said to a friend beside him, " I think
I have the chief justice; he drank in all I said; I should
like to see his notes." The court adjourned and Gibson walked
off leaving the paper. The gentleman went up and looked
at it, and was surprised to see no notes, but written every
here and there, "Dam phool — Dam phool — Dam phool."
At the first term of the court held in Beaver, in Febru-

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 79
ary, 1804,* John B. Gibson was admitted to practice with about
twenty other leading lawyers of Allegheny and Washington
counties. Beaver was then in the same circuit, the Fifth.
In a very hurable volume just published on the Lands,
Settlements, Titles, etc., etc., in Northwestern Pennsylvania, I
have enumerated them. I am very sorry I cannot furnish you
with something more worthy. Yours,
Daniel Agnew.
In the paragraphs preceding the notice of Judge Gib
son's marriage to Miss Galbraith, reference was made to an
expression employed by him in his last will, and to the re
mark it called for by a newspaper writer, who is sup
posed to be a distinguished attorney of Carlisle, still in
practice, and a sincere admirer of the deceased and friend
of his family. So that in quoting him again it will be
for the purpose of making an explanation, which the pub
licity of his article appears to demand. He says, speaking
of the judge:
"One who knew him in his prime said of him, 'that his
face was eminently handsome and full of intellect and benevo
lence, that his manners were frank and simple, and that he was
free from affectation or pretension of any sort.' Those who
saw him only in advanced life remember his face as strong,
rather than handsome, but through the wrinkles discerned
traces of the superb complexion which he transmitted to
his descendants. That he was free from affectation is hardly
*It would appear from this that Judge Gibson's admission to the Allegheny
county bar preceded his entrance to the court at Beaver. March 8th, 1803, he
was admitted at Carlisle (Cumberland county) ; September 26th of the same year
at Pittsburgh, and February, 1804, as per above, in the Beaver county court.
Judge Porter makes no reference to his admission to the courts of Allegheny
county. T. P. E.

80 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
reconcilable with the fact that he cut short a full head of
dark brown hair and covered it with a wig after he went
on the bench, and continued to wear it to the last, although
he had beneath it, at his death, a full head of grey hair."
He wore the wig and had the hair as described. The
reason he shaved his head was simply because of its heating
to an uncomfortable degree when he was hard at work, and
in order to keep it cool he resorted to a wig. Usually when
alone in a room he took his wig off, never making any pre
tence to secrecy in this habit. Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, in
his early acquaintance with Judge Gibson, and before he
was aware of this fact, desiring to see the judge in a
room in a hotel, was directed by the clerk to the proper
nuraber, but upon opening the door was astounded with the
large bald head of the occupant of the room, and think
ing he had made a mistake was about withdrawing, when
Gibson called him in and explained the reason of his
appearance. Judge Black, in relating this story to Col.
Chas. McClure, U. S. A., Judge Gibson's oldest grandson,
said : " the judge remarked that he considered hair simply
an overcoat for the head, and he would not be bothered
with a garment which he could not remove at will."
This place is as convenient as any to make a remark con
cerning Judge Black's friendship for Gibson, which, as is
generally known, was for years of the strongest nature con
ceivable. But it was not so in the beginning of their
personal acquaintance.
Judge Black met Gibson for the first time after he himself
had become a distinguished lawyer, and he had occasion to note
that the judge meeting hira afterwards in throngs, failed to
remember him, even after several introductions. To a man
of Black's excellent recollection of names and faces, this

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 81
action on Gibson's part was incomprehensible, and he took
it as a slight. These great men were radically different
in many important respects. Black, though a great leader
of men, was essentially a man of the people, an orator of
unsurpassable ability, and an indefatigable worker. He was
emphatically one of America's " grand old men ". Gibson
could never have been a successful politician, was no ora
tor, and attempted work from a sense of duty, not a love
for it. He "struck fire" in communion with himself;
Black struck it among his fellows. Black, like James G.
Blaine,* could instantly recall the names of acquaintances
even in crowds, but this faculty was weak in Judge Gib
son, and no one regretted the annoyance it caused more
than himself. Persons so afflicted, for it is an affliction,
are thus frequently misjudged, and Black at first so mis
judged Gibson, but that he forgot these erroneous impres
sions in his exalted admiration of Gibson in after years,
reference need only be made to his eulogy of his friend.
* During the fall of 1886 the writer, by the merest accident, met Mr. Blaine
on his farm at Lock No. 3, just above the town of Elizabeth, on the Monongahela
river. Mr. B. was visiting the neighborhood after an absence of twenty -five
years. Genl. J. Bowman Sweitzer, of Pittsburgh, formed one of the little party,
and by him the writer was introduced to the distinguished visitor and two of his
sons. Entering the old-fashioned town, where his mother once had lived, Mr.
Blaine began his greetings with old acquaintances, and then followed some re
markable recognitions. The man whose face, with its strong characteristics, is
known to the civilized world, seemed not familiar to many of the old burghers of
this quaint western Sleepy Hollow. " Which is Mr. Blaine ? " could be heard in
anxious sotto voce, while that gentleman himself was pushing forward, as he
recognized through the wrinkled visages face after face of men and women whom
he had in some cases only casually known in his youth. He named every one,
and inquired about many whom he was informed had long been dead. The anec
dotes connected with the locality, which he recalled to the minds of his friends,
surprised evei-y one, not only with the vividness with which they were related,
but the almost unerring accuracy of his memory. It becomes more wonderful
when it is considered that the real home of his youth was at Brownsville, a town
on the river thirty miles above Elizabeth, and that he saw but little of the latter
place in those years.
11

82 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
As has been said by W. D. Moore, Esq., of Pittsburgh,
" in his portraiture of Gibson, Black in several respects
pictured himself." It was, perhaps, almost too grand and
beautiful a picture for one life to live, but when it be
comes the funeral mantle of these two sons of Pennsyl
vania, it undoubtedly misses or overdraws no truth.
The compiler owes his thanks to Boyd Crumrine, Esq.,
of the Washington county bar, for the following incident
in the life of Judge Gibson. Writing under date of March
22d, 1887, he says:
"To-day I heard a characteristic anecdote of Chief Justice
Gibson, which it seems to me is worthy of preservation.
I got it in such a way that I am satisfied it is authentic.
In early times, when I believe Carlisle was a place
where the Supreme Court sat, on one occasion the Carlisle
bar got up a duck supper for Gibson. Connected with the
college was a Rev. McClelland, who had quite a local celeb
rity as a witty man, keen and quick at repartee. They
purposely had Prof. McClelland seated opposite Judge
Gibson, and soon had them engaged in a battle of brains.
It is said that the preacher was about a niatch for the
great judge, and now and then got the laugh on him.
After the supper was over, a lawyer asked Gibson what
he thought of McClelland. 'Well, he's a bright man,'
said the judge, 'and if he preach as well as he talks, he
is about as bright a preacher as I have met.' 'That's so,'
said his friend, *and, by the way, he preaches for us to
morrow evening, and if you'll go, I'll call for you.' The
judge assented.
The next evening the lawyer took the judge to church,
and the preacher delivered a brilliant, eloquent and able
.sermon upon 'The Judgment Day.' It was observed that

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 83
the judge was deeply interested. Passing from the church,
his friend asked the judge what he thought of the ser
mon. ' Well, it was a grand, forcible sermon,' said Gibson.
' It was solemn and threatening, and I do not see how I
could have stood it so well if I had not recollected that
duck supper last night.'* Yours truly,
Boyd Crumrine."

* Nothing, perhaps, could be better calculated than a late duck supper the
preceding night to put one in a proper frame of mind for realizing the terrors
of the judgment day.

84 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.

CHAPTEE VII.
RECOLLECTIONS OF JUDGE GIBSON's DAUGHTER — A LETTER
FROM HIS GRANDSON — HIS KNOWLEDGE OF DISEASE
AND MEDICINE — A MODEL CORRESPONDENT.
In answer to questions concerning her father's domestic
life, Mrs. McClure writes most affectingly of his kindness
of heart to all his children and grandchildren ; particularly
does she speak in the most grateful remembrance of his par
ticular kindness to herself when, after her husband's death, in
1846, he insisted upon her living with her three small boys
permanently at the " old home." * Upon an average, Mrs.
*To the same eifect writes Mrs. McClure' s oldest son, Col. Chas. McClure,
U. S. A., as herewith appended :
" Newport Bakbacks, Ky., January 20th, 1887.
I am in receipt of your note of the 14th instant.
Upon the sudden death of my father at Pittsburgh in January, 1846, my
grandfather. Chief Justice Gibson, wrote mother an aflfectionate letter urging her
to come with her children and to make his home her home. I was then but eight
years of age. I can never recall the ten happy years spent under his roof with
out emotions of the deepest gratitude. No more considerate and delicate hos
pitality was ever shown orphan children. Grandfather and grandmother, from
the day we entered their house, made us feel that we were their children. Never
by a word, look, or act, did we feel that everything in the house was not our own.
Our boyhood was made joyous by the sunshine and warmth of grandmother's
most noble, generous and affectionate of hearts. He was at home but little. The
sessions of the Supreme Court required his presence nearly all of the time at
Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Sunbury. If he could have afforded
it he would have probably made his home at Philadelphia, where he could have
spent more time with his family. He practiced economy in his personal expend
itures in the hope of laying up something so that his family might not be left
destitute. When he came home for a few weeks or days, he spent the time in his library,
writing his opinions, and the evenings were passed with the family in the parlor,
where he sometimes played the violin for our entertainment, accompanied with
the piano by my mother.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 85
McClure says, her father was not at home during more than
six weeks of the year. A statement like this will give our
readers an idea of the hardships and fatigue the judges of
the Supreme Court underwent in the performance of
their duties in the " good old times (?) " traveling by stage
coach and canal, and in the latter days of Judge Gibson's
time, occasionally on railroads. With Mrs. McClure he kept
up his early and easily acquired knowledge of the French
language, and generally when returning from Philadelphia or
Pittsburgh brought home French books on interesting sub
jects. He enjoyed the duets in singing of his daughters,
Mrs. Roberts and Mrs. Anderson, the latter of whom had
a superb soprano voice, and then his violin accompani
ments, as elsewhere referred to, with Mrs. McClure at
the piano. He was a master of the intricacies of music,
and his advice did much to develop the taste and talent of
all three of his daughters in the same direction, so that when
in the cities he was a frequenter of music and book stores
on their account, as some of his letters show.
Referring to the French, under the date of October 27th,
In his library, surrounded with large piles of papers and law books, he sat for
hours so absorbed in his work that he was generally unconscious of my entrance.
Whenever I had a difiicult sentence to translate from the classics, or a chemical
formula to find, I would slip in and ask his assistance, and he treated the inter
ruptions amiably, and took pains to aid me. He had a remarkable memory, and
I referred to him as to an eneyclopsedia. His answers and explanations won for
me higher standing in my studies than I deserved.
Once some sentence recalled a long Latin poem which, to my surprise, he
repeated from memory throughout. Probably he had not seen it since he was a
student of the classics.
You remember, as we all do, his drawer of tools in the library, and his work
at the repair of his teeth. Grandfather was generally absent-minded, and I have
spoken to him in passing in the street and he did not recognize me.
He was kind and sympathetic by nature, and no beggar ever left him empty-
handed. To his children and to his grandchildren his heart ever went out.
Their sickness always caused him the keenest solicitude and anxiety, and their
sorrows he treated as his own, and they called forth his tenderest sympathy."

86 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
1850, from Pittsburgh, he writes to his daughter Margaretta
(Mrs. McClure) as follows :
" It would be impossible for me to answer your letter in
French, such as you have written, and I will not attempt
it. The '.tournoure ' of the sentences makes me suspect that
the hand of a master* gave the finishing touch. It is all
pure and graceful French, nothing English in it. I have
been filling up the gaps between the hours of my employ
ment in reading Chateaubrian's 'Memoires d'outre Tomb,'
a book that abounds with beautiful thoughts and poetic
sentiment. In my estimation he would have - been a poet
of the first force (to use a French idiom), even had he
never written couplets. If I can procure his 'Gene
du Christianesme' I will read it next winter."
As for his knowledge of medicine, Mrs. McClure states
that in Philadelphia, Sunbury and other places, he was often
taken by regular practitioners into consultation in obscure
cases, and of his abilities to diagnose a case she says :
" I heard Dr. Jackson, of Philadelphia, say that it was a
wonderful acquirement with him, and that several times
he had been called upon for an opinion where the doctors
disagreed among themselves, and that his decision never
failed to be the right one, as was proved where his
proposed line of treatment was adopted." The orthodox
in the profession of to-day may doubt the orthodoxy
of Dr. Jackson and the physicians referred to for doing
such a terrible thing as consulting with a layman, but as
those doctors are doubtless long ago in their graves, they
cannot be injured by the relation of the fact. Speaking
* Here he guessed aright. M. Value, the distinguished French educational
writer, was at this time in Carlisle and had a large class. Mrs. McClure had
endeavored to play an innocent trick on her father with the assistance of her
preceptor.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 87
further to this point, Mrs. McClure says : " He often
regretted that he never found time to pursue • his studies
of medicine in a regular manner at some college, for
he said his greatest talent was for that, and that his
love of reading on the subject never left him. He paid
special attention to obscure nervous disorders. " *
At the close of her letter, Mrs. McClure adds: "He
also paid special attention to the subject of mineralogy,
and contributed articles to Silliman's Journal, etc." In
regard to one of these articles, see note appended to a
page from Porter's essay, which follows this.
The subject of the great majority of his letters home
was chiefly the health of the several members of his
family, and abound with excellent suggestions in this regard.
Several of them would suggest the idea that the writer
was a physician " prescribing by letter." Towards the end
of his life his own health caused him much anxiety and
suffering, particularly after his severe attack of cholera,
which he contracted at Sunbury, Penna., in 1852. The
illness and death of Judges Coulter and Burnside while
he was enfeebled himself, seems to have further distressed
him. Under date of 23d March, 1851, from Philadelphia, he
thus refers to Judge Burnside's illness :
" Judge Burnside is about as he was three weeks
ago. He complains of much pain in the ' lower
bowels, which is the only indication of the particular seat
of his disease. The doctors don't know what to do for
*Hi'3 reliance on his own judgment and course of treatment led in his last
illness to his taking certain medicine without the knowledge or consent of his
physician, and Mrs. Eoberts mentions in a letter that the eflfect of one of these
doses greatly prostrated him and may have been the cause of hastening his
death. The best of physicians will often fail to diagnose their own cases when
they are sick.

88 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
him. He is certainly weaker and thinner than he was,
but his voice is good ; he had no fever and his pulse is
natural. James* has been at home for a few days and
returned on Thursday. Judge Bell and I went out to
Germantown on Wednesday, and the judge conversed a
good deal with us. He is not well satisfied with his
physicians, though he is resigned to die."
Up to the very last, however. Judge Gibson indicated in
his letters the warm sociability of his nature. Both in
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh he had an extensive circle of
friends upon whom he regularly called, and when any
of these gave large entertainments he always wrote his wife
pleasant descriptions, and though not particularly observant
of " small talk happenings," he was the faithful chronicler
of the weddings, deaths and other prominent events
in the families of his old friends. He thus seemed
instinctively to know what would be interesting items of
news to his wife and daughters. Had he been writing to
grown up sons or brothers, their subject matter would, as
a matter of course, have been differently chosen.
In one letter (without date) there is a point which, for
the benefit of lawyers, may be worth quoting:
"The court will continue through the present week, and
probably for a day or two in the next one, to finish a
cause lasting over Sunday on some business of very press
ing emergency. Lawyers are slack in bringing on their
business at the beginning of the court, but unpleasantly
urgent near the close of it. We have already dispatched
more business than ever was done in Philadelphia in the
same time."
* James here referred to was a son of Judge Burnside who afterwards
became judge of Centre county. Pa., and was killed July 3d, 1859, in Bellefonte,
by being thrown out of a buggy.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 89
The epidemic of cholera which visited Pittsburgh in 1849,
and again in 1850, evidently caused much alarm in the
judge's family, who feared he might contract the disease
while attending court in that city. As a matter of inter
est to many persons in Pittsburgh some points connected
with its appearance there from Judge Gibson's letters may
prove valuable.
Under date of September 19th, 1849, he remarks in a
letter to his wife : " We did not arrive here till
Monday at three o'clock in consequence of having reached
Hollidaysburg too late in the evening to cross the Port
age railroad that night. We slept at Hollidaysburg and
consequently lost the time we had gained by the railroad
from Harrisburg. We traveled from that place to Lewistown,
a distance of sixty-five miles, in less than three hours.
We had but few passengers till we reached Johnstown,
at the foot of the mountains, on this side, where a par
cel of dirty emigrants came on board (canal boat) of
us. They had stopped over the preceding night, but cer
tainly not to wash their shirts. They looked as much
like food for cholera as you can imagine, but they
did us no harm. There is no cholera here, either in
Pittsburgh or the towns about. It had entirely estab
lished itself in Birmingham, and there never were more
than half a dozen cases of it in the city proper. On
Monday a drunken member of Congress was brought up
the river in a state of collapse, and died on the boat
at the wharf, but his body was immediately taken away
and buried privately, I presume, for we have since
heard nothing about him. The taverns here are nearly
empty, for the dreaded epidemic has prevented traveling
12

90 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.

I

everywhere. The Monongahela House has not more than
one-fifth part of its usual custom."
Sunday, July — , 1850, he writes :
"Yesterday I sent you a telegraphic dispatch; yet we
had been on the point of decamping ' on Thursday. The
cholera had disappeared both in Pittsburgh and Alle
gheny before our arrival, but on Wednesday morning it
reappeared on the high ground half a mile east of the
court house, in the family of Mr. Metcalf, who had a
small Episcopal party the previous evening, and Mr.
Metcalf and his brother-in-law (Mr. Knapp) died the
same day, in the afternoon, leaving his wife, son and
daughter ill of the disease, but they are recovering. Mr.
Metcalf was a lawyer of great respectability, and was
in court the day previous. It is singular that the dis
ease reappeared on the original infected spot, comprising
not more than an acre, in which it firM broke out.
It was brought there by a Mr. Lang (also a lawyer) from
Cincinnati, who died of it, with his whole family, and all
the mortality was confined to that narrow space. There has
not been a death from it in the flat part of the lower city,
excepting that of Doctor Green, who contracted the disease
while attending the sick in the infected district. A laborer
in it, who had lived in Allegheny along the marshy
bank of the canal, took it home with him, and it was
confined to a narrow space there, but traveled to a village
two miles further up, and disappeared, after causing two
deaths. This is a true statement of the case, and you need
be under no apprehension from it. No one here thinks of
it." Two weeks later he writes:
"On Thursday young Metcalf died of congestive fever

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 91
the secondary form of cholera, under which he labored for
twelve days. No new cases originated after the blow which
fell upon the Metcalf family, and which carried off the
father, son and brother-in-law, and I believe a servant in
the family. Mrs. Metcalf and her daughter recovered from
the disease. This family was remarkable for their temper
ance and regularity both in eating and drinking. They were
pious members of the Episcopal Church. It is considered
that the disease has taken its final leave of the place."
No private letters of Judge Gibson of a date prior to
1841 are known to have been preserved, and the very last
one which the writer has seen is dated March 17th, 1853.
It is quite probable that this is the last letter he ever wrote
home, where he remained until he, in a greatly enfeebled con
dition, and against the advice of the merabers of his family
and of his physicians, made his last trip to attend the meet
ing of the Supreme Court in Philadelphia, and to which place
his family was shortly summoned by telegraph to attend his
dying bedside. He says :
"Scarcely had I got rid of the cold I had at Carlisle
till I caught another from the same cause. The fire maker
had not kindled the stove in time to warm the room. It
is a hall like a barn, with eight large windows. I am
going back to my old room, which I am sorry I left. I
had bought a thermometer for it, and by proper instructions
to the attendants had escaped colds.
" My present cold ha? been as severe as the preceding one
except that I have no cough, but my head is much affected
and my strength greatly prostrated. I went into court yes
terday morning merely to receive a verdict. I adjourned over
to Monday to meet in my old room. I am better to-day,
but yesterday I lay almost entirely on the bed."

92 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
The children of Judge John Bannister and Sarah W.
Gibson were as follows:
(1st.) Anne Sarah, born June 13th, 1813, died July 12th,
1813. (2d.) Margaretta, born November 20th, 1814.
(3d.) Annie Barbara, born Deceraber 6th, 1817, died August
28th, 1857.
(4th.) John Bannister, born January 14th, 1820, died Jan
uary 7th, 1822.
(5th.) John Bannister (2), born November 3d, 1822, died
January 15th, 1856.
(6th.) George, born April 5th, 1826, died August 5th,
1888. (7th.) Francis West, born October 31st, 1828, died March
2d, 1830.
(8th.) Sarah, born October 30th, 1830, died August 11th,
1872. Margaretta was married November 5th, 1833, to Colonel
Charles McClure. Colonel McClure represented the Cumber
land county district in Congress, and was secretary of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during Governor Porter's
term. He was an older brother of the late Judge William
B. Mc(Jlure, of Pittsburgh. Mrs. McClure is at present
living in Carlisle. Her husband died in Allegheny City in
January, 1846, from the effects of overwork and excitement
attending the trial of an important case before the Supreme
Court in which he was a counsellor. The remains of Col
onel McClure are buried in the Allegheny Cemetery, Pitts
burgh.* * Mr. and Mrs. McClure had five children, two of whom died in infancy,
prior to 1845. The three surviving children are, (1st.) Colonel Charles McClure,
now of the paymaster's department, U. S. A. Colonel McClure served on the
staff' of various prominent generals through the war in the army of the Potomac,

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 93
Annie Barbara Gibson was married to W. Milnor Rob
erts, January 5th, 1837. Mr. Roberts was a civil engineer,
commencing his active life in that profession while a boy of
fifteen, in 1825, on the first canal attempted in Pennsyl
vania. Eventually he became chief engineer of public works
in the State service. His name and services were intimately
connected with the Portage railroad, Harrisburg & Lancaster,
Cumberland Valley, Allegheny Valley, among the earlier
works. In 1858 went to Brazil, remaining until 1865, dur
ing which period, in company with Mr. Jacob Humbird
and other Americans, built the first railroad, the Great
Dom Pedro II railroad, in that country; and later he was
associate chief engineer St. Louis bridge, chief of tbe
Northern Pacific, charge of Ohio river improvement, under
appointment of Secretary of War Stanton, etc.
In 1879, accepting an appointment from the Emperor of
Brazil, as chief of the commissioners of hydraulic engineers
on the improvement of rivers and harbors in the Brazilian
empire, he went to that country for the last time, where
he died July 14th, 1881. His remains were brought to
this country in the following year and buried in Philadel
phia, his native city. Mrs. Roberts died in Carlisle, August
participating actively in many severe engagements. He had for several years
prior to the war been in the office of his granduncle, General George Gibson,
Commissary General, U. S. A. His present address is El Paso, Texas. He was
married September 16th, 1869, at Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Annie, a daughter
of Brigader General George W. Getty, U. S. A. General Getty was a major-
general of volunteers during the war. When retired he wa,s colonel of the fourth
artillery, and a major general United States army by brevet. Colonel McClure
and wife have seven children. (2d.) George Gibson McClure, late of the Third
National Bank, New York, now with the pay department, U. S. A. Not married.
(3d.) William McClure, broker in stocks in New York, and recently chairman
of the New York Stock Exchange. He married Miss Ella Crane, daughter of
the late Theodore Crane, a merchant of New York city ; they have no children.

94 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
28th, 1857, and is buried in her father's lot in the
cemetery at that place.*
John B. Gibson, second, was a strikingly handsome man
of six feet three inches in height. He was appointed a
lieutenant in the First Artillery, U. S. A., at the breaking
out of the Mexican War. He was brevetted for gallant
service in that war, and died in 1856, in Carlisle. He
never married.
Judge Gibson's son George entered the army in 1853,
originally in the quartermaster's department. Before the war
he was transferred to an infantry command. At the time of
his death, at Las Vegas Springs, New Mexico, he was colonel
of the Fifth United States Infantry. He was married No
vember 10th, 1863, to Miss Fannie Hunt, daughter of the
late Dr. Henry Hunt, of Washington, D. C. They had no
children. Sarah (Sallie), Judge Gibson's youngest daughter, married,
* The children of W. Milnor and Annie Eoberts are as follows : (1st.)
William Milnor Eoberts. At present on his farm " Eiverside " on the Potomac
river, near Cumberland, Md. He married in 1864 in Brazil, S. A., Elizabeth,
a daughter of Jacob Humbird, of Cumberland, Maryland. They have eight
children. (2d.) John Bannister Gibson Eoberts. Eeceutly chief engineer and
superintendent of the West Wisconsin railroad, and connected with other roads
in the Northwest and Texas. At present in the engineering department of the
Edison Electric Light Company. He is married to Jane, a daughter of Jacob
Humbird, Esq., of Cumberland, Maryland. They have one child, a son. (3d.)
Thomas Paschall Eoberts, civil engineer, connected in past years with various
railroads and river improvements in government service. At present chief engi
neer Monongahela Navigation Company, Pittsburgh. Married June 8th, 1870,
to Juliet, a daughter of James M. Christy, Esq., of Pittsburgh ; five children liv
ing, one dead. (4th.) George Gibson Eoberts, assistant engineer on various pub
lic works. At present in Carlisle. Unmarried. (5th.) Annie Gibson Eoberts.
Married Captain George W. Yates, Seventh Cavalry, U. S. A., who lost his life
at the side of General Custer, in the battle of the Little Big Horn, Montana, July,
1876. Mrs. Yates has three children, and resides in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. (6th)
Eichard Anderson Eoberts. At present secretary and auditor of the Manufact
urers' Natural Gas Company, Pittsburgh. Married Lelia P. Christy, daughter
of James M. Christy. (7th) Charles Watts Eoberts, died in infancy.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 95
in 1851, Captain R. H. Anderson, of the Second Dragoons, U.
S. A. Captain Anderson was the last of the thirty-three officers
frora South Carolina to resign from the army in 1861. In
the Confederate services he rose to the command of a corps.
Throughout the war his wife was indefatigable in her
efforts to alleviate the sufferings of "Yankee prisoners,"
visiting the sick among them, and in many instances se
curing their early exchange. She died in Charleston, South
Carolina, August 11th, 1872. General Anderson died a few
years later.*
General Anderson was among the first of the promi
nent army officers of the defunct Confederacy to be par
doned by President Johnson, and this was brought about
through the influence of Senator Simon Cameron. In a
letter dated Harrisburg, June 12th, 1865, to Colonel, then
Captain Charles McClure, U. S. A., who had laid the case
of General Anderson before him, he says:
"Your kind letter of the 9th inst. is raore than com
pensation for any kindness I may have rendered your fam
ily. I have always believed it the duty of men reaching
high positions to use the power delegated to them for good,
and when I have done so, I have rarely failed to get a
grateful return. Besides, your grandfather, who was among
the greatest of our great men, treated me with respect in
my early obscurity, and continued my friend till his death,
and so it was with his good brother the general. In the
case of your aunt, I was made as happy as she could be
herself by the ready acquiescence of the secretary."
The allusion to Judge Gibson's brother. General George
Gibson, has reference to the general's kindness to him
* The only surviving children of General Anderson and his wife are Eichard,
in business in the South, and Sallie, who recently has married, also in the
South.

96 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
when he (Cameron) first visited Washington looking for
work in a printing office, and when he • was an entire
stranger to General Gibson. No man in the country has
probably performed more kindly deeds than General Cam
eron for friendship and for "auld lang syne," and in count
less cases, no doubt, without the least expectation of a re
turn. The service he did at this time for the daughter of
Judge Gibson, who was both loyal to her country and to
her husband, in "the time that tried men's souls" more
than ever did the revolutionary struggle, is kept in grate
ful remembrance by Mrs. Anderson's relatives and friends.
Judge Gibson died in the United States Hotel on Chestnut
street, 2 a. m., Tuesday, May 3d, 1853, surrounded by all the
members of his family excepting Mrs. Anderson, who at this
time was with her husband in the army in Texas. On the
following day his remains were removed to Carlisle, and
buried at noon on the 5th in the old graveyard sometimes
called the " English burial ground." *
Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, the day
being very rainy, a large concourse of citizens followed the
* The view presented in this ancient burial ground represents Judge Gib
son's family lot with his monument in the foreground. To the right is seen the
Nesbit monument , which he designed in 1824. In the background are the tombs
of Justice Hugh H. Brackenridge and Thomas Duncan, of the Supreme Court.
"Within a radius of a hundred yards of Gibson's monument lie David
Watts, Samuel Alexander, S. Dunlap Adair, Hugh GauUager, Wm. M. Biddle,
Hon. John Eeed and Hon. James H. Graham, all of whom have argued cases
before him, and some of them had their opinions passed upon by him. James
Eoss, author of the Latin grammar, a fine classical scholar and the instructor of
many an ingenious youth, lies there, and there lies Doctor Alfred Foster, facile
princeps of a brilliant circle that has passed away." (Oariisle newspaper.)
Thickly strewed about are the graves of the veteran officers and soldiers of
every war the Colonies and the United States have engaged in since 1740 ; among
the latter none possess greater interest than the modest slab first erected when
" Decoration Day" came in vogue, which marks the spot where reposes the can
noneer's wife, " Molly " Pitcher, the heroine of the battle of Princeton.

ANCESTRY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. 97
remains to the grave. The following is the order of the
funeral procession :
1st. Members of the Masonic Lodges representing Phila
delphia, Carlisle, etc.
2d. The reverend clergy of the borough.
3d. Wm. M. Biddle, Hugh Gaullager, W. H. Miller,
J. E. Bonham, Edward M. Biddle, A. B. Sharpe, Wm. M.
Penrose and R. M. Henderson, as active pall bearers in the
cemetery, and the residue of the members of the Carlisle
bar as honorary pall bearers.
4th. The family and relations of the deceased.
5th. The faculty and students of Dickinson College.
6th. The officers of the U. S. array stationed at Carlisle
barracks. 7th. The citizens generally.
The burial services of the Episcopal Church were read
by the Rev. J. B. Morse of St. John's church.
No one has done more to keep the name of Judge Gib
son green than the late Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, and to
hira Mrs. Gibson and the merabers of her family were
indebted for the inscriptions which fill the panels on the
sides of the shaft erected to his memory, and which read
as follows : JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON, LL. D.,
FOR MANY YEARS
CHIEF JUSTICE OF PENNSYLVAN^.
BORN NOVEMBER 8TI-I, I780.
DIED MAY 3D, 1853.*

* The inscription on the monument reads that he died May 2d, and Mrs. Gib
son so wrote it in her family Bible. He died on Tuesday morning, two hours
after midnight of the 2d ; the mistake, no doubt, originated in considering the
13

98 JOHN BANNISTER GIBBON.
IN THE VARIOUS KNOWLEDGE
WHICH FORMS THE PERFECT SCHOLAR
HE HAD NO SITPERIOR.
INDEPENDENT, UPRIGHT AND ABLE
HE HAD ALL THE HIGHEST QUALITIES
OF A GREAT JUDGE.
IN THE DIFFICULT SCIENCE OF JURISPRUDENCE
HE MASTERED EVERY DEPARTMENT,
DISCUSSED ALMOST EVERY QUESTION, AND
TOUCHED NO SUBJECT WHICH HE DID NOT ADORN.

HE WON IN EARLY MANHOOD
AND RETAINED TO THE CLOSE OF HIS LONG LIFE
THE AFFECTION OF HIS BRETHREN ON THE BENCH,
THE RESPECT OF THE BAR,
AND THE CONFIDENCE OF THE PEOPLE.

HIS INTIMATJE FRIENDS
FORGOT THE FAME OF HIS JUDICIAL CAREER
IN THE MORE CHERISHED RECOLLECTIONS
OF HIS SOCIAL CHARACTER,
AND HIS BEREAVED FAMILY
DEDICATE THIS STONE
TO THE PERPETUAL MEMORY
OF
THE AFFECTIONATE HUSBAND
AND
THE KIND FATHER.

time the night of the 2d, when in reality it was two hours in the 3d of May. A
number of Philadelphia newspapers and other journals of the period in the
writer's possession, fully establish the fact as here stated, as does also the official
records of the Supreme Court.

MONUMENT TO JUDGE GIBSON.

In the bLickyrouiid is the Nisbet monument and the lomb.^ of Judges Bnickenridg-e and Duncan.

PART SECOND.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF
PENNSYLVANIA UPON THE DEATH
OF JUDGE GIBSON.

ADDRESS BY THE HON. THADDEUS STEVENS, AND
THE EULOGY DELIVERED BY CHIEF JUSTICE
JEREMIAH S. BLACK.
Reported in 7 Harris, 10.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Harrisburg, May 9th, 1853.
The May term of the Supreme Court for the Middle
District commenced on Monday, May 9th. Present, the Hon.
Chief Justice Black, and Associates Lewis, Lowrie and
Woodward, Justices.
Mr. Stevens, of Lancaster, on the meeting of the court,
called attention to the death of Mr. Justice Gibson in the
following terms: -
May it please ihe Court:
Respect for the memory of your late colleague, the
former chief justice of Pennsylvania, seems to require that
this court should adjourn without transacting any business
on this the first day of its session since his decease. The
circumstances of his illness and death are known to you.

100 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Judge Gibson had occupied a seat on the bench for
more than forty years, with credit to hiraself and his
native State. Pennsylvania has had many able judges.
Chief Justice M'Kean, Tilghman, and many of their con
temporaries, would have done honor to the judiciary of
any country. But in intellectual power, I doubt if any of
them excelled, if they equalled. Judge Gibson. His per
ception was strong and clear, and he uttered his thoughts
in the most forcible and lucid manner. His style, equally
removed from dry insipidity and meretricious ornaments, is
a raoJel of judicial composition. I do not know by whom
it has been surpassed. He analyzed and mastered the most
abstruse and difficult questions, aud presented them with
singular perspicuity. His opinions delight by their admir
able brevity. Above all pedantry, all affectation of learning,
master of his subject and of the English language, he did
not find it necessary to waste pages to express an idea.
He was appointed to the Supreme Court thirty-five
years ago. On the death of Chief Justice Tilghman he
became his successor, and presided over the deliberations of
this court for more than twenty years, with honor to him
self and the country. So distinguished was his ability,
learning and impartiality, that, after the adoption of the
amended Constitution, in 1838, in times of the highest and
bitterest party excitement, Governor Ritner, forgetting his
personal and party feelings, and looking only to the quali
fications necessary for that high ofiice, re-appointed hira
chief justice of this commonwealth; an act, I may be
permitted to say, honorable to both. It taught, in signifi
cant language, that however proper it may be to fill the
gubernatorial chair, and other executive offices, with poli
ticians, none but able, learned and upright jurists are fit to

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 101
be indued with judicial robes. It was an example which
will be creditable and useful to the people and their rulers,
whenever they shall occupy a like elevated position.
Judge Gibson lived to an advanced age; his knowledge
increasing with increasing years, while his great intellect
remained unimpaired.
Those who believe, as all should believe, that the judi
ciary is the most important department of government, and
that great, wise and pure judges are the chief bulwark and
protection of the lives, liberty and rights of the people,
will deeply and sincerely regret the loss of Judge Gibson.
This, perhaps, is not the proper place to speak of his
private worth and delightful social qualities. They will be
sufficiently attested by his numerous mourning friends and
acquaintances in every part of the State.
His Honor, the present chief justice, replied as follows,
and the court adjourned for the day :
It is unnecessary to say that every surviving member
of the court is deeply grieved by the death of Mr. Justice
Gibson. In the course of nature it was not to be expected
that he could live much longer, for he had attained the
ripe age of seventy-six.* But the blow, though not a sud
den, was, nevertheless, a severe one. The iutiraate relations,
personal and official, which we all bore to him, would have
been sufficient to account for some emotion, even if he had
been an ordinary man. But he was the Nestor of the
bench, whose wisdom inspired the public raind with confi
dence in our decisions. By this bereaveraeut the- court has
* A pardonable error on Judge Bl ack's part. Judge Gibson lived 72 years,
6 months, 25 days.

102 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
lost what no time can repair; for we shall never look
upon his like again.
We regarded him more as a father than a brother.
None of us ever saw the Supreme Court before he was in
it; and to some of us his character as a great judge was
farailiar, even in childhood. The earliest knowledge of the
law we had was derived in part from his luminous expo
sitions of it. He was a judge of the Common Pleas before
the youngest of us was born, and was a member of this
court long before the oldest was admitted to the bar. He
sat here with twenty-six different associates, of whom eigh
teen preceded him to the grave. For nearly a quarter of
a century he was chief justice, and when he was nomi
nally superseded by another as the head of the court, his
great learning, venerable character and over-shadowing
reputation still made him the only chief whom the hearts
of the people would know. During the long period of his
judicial labors he discussed and decided innuraerable ques
tions. His opinions are found in no less than .seventy
volumes of the regular reports, from 2 Sergeant & Rawle
to 7 Harris.
At the tirae of his death he had been longer in office
than any contemporary judge in the world; and in sorae
points of character he had not vbis equal on the earth.
Such vigor, clearness and precision of thought were
never before united with the same felicity of diction.
Brougham has sketched Lord Stowell justly enough as the
greatest judicial writer that England could boast of,
for force and beauty of style. He selects a sentence and
calls on the reader to admire the remarkable elegance of
its structure. I believe that Judge Gibson never wrote an
opinion in his life from which a passage might not be

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUPREME COURT. 103
taken, stronger, as well as more graceful in its turn of
expression thau this which is selected with so much care by
a most zealous friend from all of Lord Stowell's.
His written language was a transcript of his mind. It
gave the world the very form and pressure of his thoughts.
It was accurate, because he knew the exact boundaries of
the principles he discussed. His mental vision took in
the whole outline and all the details of the case, and
with a bold and steady hand he painted what he saw. He
raade others understand him because he understood himself.
" Cui lecta potenter erit res.
Nee facundia deseret hunc, nee lucidus ordo."
His style was rich, but he never turned out of his way
for figures of speech. He never sacrificed sense to sound,
or preferred ornament to substance. If he reasoned much by
coraparison it was not to raake his composition brilliant, but
clear. He spoke in metaphors often, not because they were
sought, but because they carae to his mind unbidden. The
sarae vein of happy illustration ran through his conversation
and his private letters. I was raost of all struck with it in
a careless raemorandum, intended, when it was written, for no
eye but his own. He never thought of display and seemed
totally unconscious that he had the power to make any.
His words were always precisely adapted to the subject.
He said neither more nor less than just the thing he ought.
He had one faculty of a great poet, that of expressing a
thought in language which could never afterwards be para
phrased. When a legal principle passed through his hands, he
sent it forth clothed in a dress which fitted it so exactly
that nobody ever presuraed to give it any other. Alraost
universally the syllabus of his opinion is a sentence from

104 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
itself, and the raost heedless student in looking over Whar
ton's Digest can select the cases in which Gibson delivered
the judgment as readily as he would pick out gold coins
from among coppers. For this reason it is that though
he was the least voluminous writer of the court, the
citations frora hira at the bar are raore nuraerous than
frora all the rest put together. Yet the raen who shared
with him the labors and responsibilties of this tribunal
(of course I ara not referring to any who are now
here) stood araong the foremo.st in the country for
learning and ability. To be their equal was an honor
which few could attain ; to excel them was a most pre
eminent distinction.
The dignity, richness and purity of his written opinions
was by no means his highest title to admiration. The
movements of his mind were as strong as they were
graceful. His periods not only pleased the ear but sunk
into the mind. He never wearied the reader, but he
always exhausted the subject. An opinion of his was an
unbroken chain of logic from beginning to end. His
argumentation was always characterized by great power,
and sometiraes it rose into irresistible energy, dashing
opposition to pieces with a force like that of a bat-
tering-rara. He never raissed the point even of a cause
which had been badly argued. He separated the chaff
from the xyheat alraost as soon as he got possession of it.
The most complicated entanglement of fact and law would
be reduced to harmony under his hands. His arrange
raent was so lucid that the dullest mind could follow
him with that intense pleasure which we all feel in being
able to comprehend the workings of an intellect so mani
festly superior.

PROCEEDINGS OP THE SUPREME COURT. 105
Yet he committed errors. It is wonderful that in the
course of his long service he did not commit more. A
few were caused by inattention ; a few by want of time ;
a few by preconceived notions which led hira astray. When
he did throw himself into the wrong side of a cause, he
usually made an argument which it was much easier to
overrule than to answer. With reference to his erroneous
opinions, he might have used the words of Virgil, which
he quoted so happily in Eahin vs. Raub, 12 Ser. & R.,
for another purpose. " Si Pergama dextra
Defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent."
But he was of all raen the raost devoted and earnest
lover of truth for iis own sake. When subsequent reflection
convinced him that he had been wrong, he took the first
opportunity to acknowledge it. He was often the earliest to
discover his own mistakes, as well as the foremost to cor
rect them.
He was inflexibly honest. The judicial ermine was as
unspotted when he laid it aside for the habiliments of the
grave, as it was when he first assumed it. I do not mean
to award him merely that common-place integrity which it
is no honor to have, but simply a disgrace to want. He
was not only incorruptible, but scrupulously, delicately, con
scientiously free from all wilful wrong, either in thought,
word or deed.
Next, after his wonderful intellectual endowments, the
benevolence of his heart was the most marked feature of
his character. His was a raost genial spirit ; affectionate
and kind to his friends, and magnanimous to his enemies.
Benefits received by him were engraved on his memory as
on a tablet of brass; injuries were written in sand. He
14

106 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
never let the sun go down on his wrath. , A little dash of
bitterness in his nature would, perhaps, have given a more
consistent tone to his character, and greater activity to his
mind. He lacked the quality which Dr. Johnson admired ;
he was not a good hater.
His accomplishments were very extraordinary. He was
born a musician, and the natural talent was highly culti
vated. He was a connoisseur in painting and sculpture.
The whole round of English literature was familiar to him.
He was at home araong the ancient classics. He had a
perfectly clear perception of all the great truths of natural
science. He had studied medicine carefully in his youth
and understood it well. His mind absorbed all kinds of
knowledge with scarcely an effort.
Judge Gibson was well appreciated by his fellow citi
zens ; not so highly as he deserved, for that was scarcely
possible, but admiration of his talents and respect for his
honesty were universal sentiments. This was strikingly
manifested when he was elected, in 1851, with no emphatic
political standing, and without manners, habits or associ
ations calculated to make him popular beyond the circle
that knew him intimately. With all these disadvantages, it
is said, he narrowly escaped what might have been a
dangerous distinction — a nomination on both of the opposing
tickets. Abroad he has, for very many years, been thought
the great glory of his native State.
Doubtless the whole commonwealth will mourn his death ;
we all have good reason to do so. The profession of the
law has lost the ablest of its teachers, this court the
brightest of its ornaments, and the people a steadfast de
fender of their rights, so far as they were capable of being
protected by judicial authority. For myself, I know no

PROCEEDINGS OP THE SUPREME COURT. 107
form of words to express my deep sense of the loss we
have suffered. I can most truly say of him what was
said long ago, concerning one of the few mortals who were
greater than he : " T did love the man, and do honor his
memory, on this side idolatry, as much as any."
As a token of respect for the deceased, it is ordered
that the court do now adjourn.

PART THIRD.
JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
AS A LAWYER, A LEGISLATOR AND A JUDGE.
Selections from Judge William A. Porter's Essay.*

At the period of Mr. Gibson's entrance into Dickinson
College the presidential chair of the institution was filled
by Charles Nisbet, D. D., whose attachment to the Ameri
can cause had made him an exile from his native land, and
whose love of letters and science had given him a just
celebrity in the country of his adoption. His pupil
retained through life a grateful recollection of the advan
tages he derived from the instructions of this celebrated
teacher. In the seventeenth volume of the " Port Folio "
(January, 1824) he published a memoir of his preceptor,
equally creditable to the author and to the subject of it,
I extract this sentence; "His lectures on criticism and
taste are particularly admired by those who are competent
* Judge Porter was a son of Governor Porter, and brother of J. Horace Por
ter, Esq., who prepared a memoir (see Appendix) of Gen. George, Judge Gib
son's brother. Judge Porter was born in Huntingdon county, 1821, and died very
suddenly at Wissahickon, Philadelphia, June 28th, 1886. It has been well said
of him that he was not only " a distinguished jurist hut also a Christian gentle
man." He was aware that a memoir of Judge Gibson was about to be prepared,
but unfortunately for the writer he started his undertaking too late to have the
advice and assistance of him who was so well qualified to give it.

110 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
to judge of their merit. As a preacher there was nothing
to strike the senses in the character of his eloquence, yet
he never failed to fix the attention of those who eould
dispense with the graces of personal exterior and be sat
isfied with a manly and fervent piety, with sound doctrine,
with strong and original conceptions, and with a masterly
arrangement of argument and matter delivered in a down
right natural manner, and in a plain but polished style."
At page 327 of the same volume of the "Port Folio"
will be found an engraving of the monument erected to
the memory of Dr. Nisbet in the burial ground at Car
lisle, Pa., "for the drawing of which," says the editor,
" we are indebted to the pencil of our friend J. B. Gib
son, Esq., one of the judges of the Supreme Court of this
commonwealth."* The drawing appears to evince some

* Not only the sketch of this monument, but as well also the inscription and
the design for the sculptor, were original with Judge Gibson. A search in the
libraries of Philadelphia brought to light the volume of the " Port Folio " men
tioned by Judge Porter, and we are therefore able to present almost a fac-simile
of the original drawing. The inscription reads as follows :
M. S.
CAEOLI NISBET, S.S.T.D.
Qui, unanimi hortatu
Curatorum Academiae Dickinsoniensis,
Ut Primarii ejusdem munia susciperet,
Patria sua, Scotia Relicta,
Ad Uarleolum venit, A. D. 1785.
Ibique, per novem decem annos,
Summa cum laude,
Muneri suo incubnit.
Viri, si quis alius, probi piique,
Omni doctrina ornatissimi
Lectione immensa, memoria iideli,
Acumine verO ingenii, facetiis, salibusque
Plane miri, et undique clari.
Nemini vero mortalium, nisi iis, infensi
Qui, cum Philosophiae praetextu, sacra insultant,
Familiae autem suae, amicisque,

^..^^"-¦'^'""'V^^'y -

THE NISBET MONUIVIENT, DESIGNED BY JUDGE GIBSON.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. Ill
artistic merit; and this is a convenient place to observe
that Judge Gibson possessed peculiar skill in that depart
ment of art. He could at any tirae sketch by a few dashes
of his pen admirable likenesses of both raen and things.
Many a dull speaker who has been encouraged by the
energy with which the judge's pen moved might have
found on his notes little more than a most excellent
representation of the speaker's face. Occasionally on his
forgetting to destroy such efforts they have passed round
the bar to the amusement of all but the sketcher and the
sketched. His taste also extended to painting, in which he
was regarded as a competent critic.
On the completion of his collegiate course, be entered on
the study of the law in Carlisle, in the oflice of Thomas
Duncan, with whom he was afterwards to occupy a seat on
the bench of the Suprerae Court. In this preceptor he was
equally fortunate. The name of Judge Duncan occupies a
respectable place in our judicial annals.* His manners were
Ob mores suaves, benignos, hi! ares, comesque,
unice dilecti.
Animam placide efflavit 14 mo. Kal. Feb. 1804
Anno aetatis 68.
Abiit noster : proh dolor !
Cui similem baud facile posthac visuri sumus !
At quem terra amisit, lucrifecit Coelum,
Novo splendore
Corporis resuscitati, vitaeque eternae.
Cum Domino Jesu, omnibusque Sanctis,
Ovantem rediturum.
* The Eev. Dr. Nevin contributes to the Philadelphia Times the following
of Judge Duncan : "He was also, it may be noted, remarkably ready in repar
tee. An instance may be given. His principal competitor in practice was David
Watts (father of Hon. Frederick Watts), a distinguished member ofthe Cumber
land county bar. Mr. Watts was a large and athletic gentleman, while Mr.
Duncan was of small stature and light weight. On one occasion, during a dis
cussion on a legal question in court, Mr. Watts, in the heat of his argument,
made a personal allusion to Mr. Duncan's small stature, and said he 'could put

112 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
kind and simple; his habits of investigation, patient and
systematic; his powers of discrimination cultivated by study
and by intercourse with the acutest minds of his day ; his
style, both of speaking and writing, easy, natural, graceful
and clear; and his acquirements quite equal to tho.se of
his predecessors on the bench. In that day the learning of
the profession was confined mainly to special pleading and
real estate. The former attracted the attention of students
his opponent in his pocket.' 'Very well,' replied Mr. Duncan, 'if you do so,
you will have more law in your pocket than you have in your head.' "
Judge Gibson, as has already been noticed, had a penchant for writing epi
taphs, and upon the monument of his friend and preceptor Duncan, in the Car
lisle cemetery, is inscribed his graceful, and no doubt, well merited, tribute, which
reads as follows : Near this spot
is deposited all that was mortal
of THOMAS DUNCAN, EsqmRE, LL. D.,
born at Carlisle 20 November, 1760; died 16 November, 1827.
Called to Bar at an early age,
he was rapidly borne
by genius, perseverance and integrity
to the pinnacle of his profession ;
and in the fullness of his fame
was elevated
to the Bench of the Supreme Court of his native
State,
for which
a sound judgment,
boundless stores of legal science
and a profound reverence of the common law
had peculiarly fitted him.
Of his judicial labours,
the reported cases of the period are the best
eulogy.
As a husband, indulgent ;
as a father, kind ;
as a friend, sincere ;
as a magistrate, incorruptible ;
and as a citizen, inestimable ;
He was honored by the wise and good,
and wept
by a wide circle of relatives and friends.
Honesta quam splendida.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 113
by its utility in practice, by the profound and intricate
nature of its principles, and by the satisfaction which, when
mastered, it imparts to the mind. The doctrines of real
estate were investigated with care, because in the state of
the country, the settlement of titles to land necessarily
formed the bulk of every lawyer's business. Of comraercial
law, we had next to none. No bank had then been char
tered by the State to do business exclusively out of the
city of Philadelphia, and that city had but three banks
within its liraits. Partnership, negotiable paper, and insur
ance were terras whose iraport differed widely from their
import now. The carrying trade of the country was done
mainly in the " Conestoga wagon," and as this required in
each case, but one wagon and one set of horses and har
ness, the time had not arrived for that union of capital
and labor so essential to the success of large comraercial
enterprises. Where credit was small, and labor was paid
for in cash, or by an exchange of commodities, negotiable
instruments were comparatively unnecessary. So little were
insurances known out of Philadelphia, that according to the
recollection of persons now living, when a bill was intro
duced into the legislature to incorporate the first life insur
ance of the State, it was scouted and rejected as a vain
effort, if not to affect by. pecuniary considerations the length
of human life, at least to trifle with that which belongs to
the dominion of a Higher Power. In the absence of the
usual subjects of commercial decision, we could have little
commercial law. The jurisprudence of England, though some
centuries older, exhibited almost equal dearth. Lord Holt
had here and there laid a foundation stone in such cases
as Coggs vs, Bernard, 3 Salkeld II, on the liability of
common carriers, and these had been improved by Lord
15

114 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Mansfield in many such cases as Heylyn vs. Adamson, 2
Burrows, 669, on the steps necessary to fix an endorser,
and by Lord Loughborough in such others as TAckbarrow
vs. Mason, I. H. Blackstone, 357, on the right of stoppage
in transits. But all that had then been done will be found
to bear feeble comparison with the generous contributions
which have since been made to that department of legal
science. In this branch, therefore, we must suppose that
neither preceptor nor pupil had made any considerable
attainments in the outset of his career. I think it might
be shown by citations from his opinions, that Judge Dun
can's taste inclined more strongly to special pleading than
to real estate, and that his accuracy in that department
was greater than in the law of property. We shall see
that his pupil acquired eminence in the entire three
branches ; certainly in our Pennsylvania land law ; while
of our mercantile law, he must be regarded as a chief
architect. On the 8th of March, 1803, on motion of Mr. Duncan,
he was admitted to the bar of Cumberland county, and
entered on the practice of the law in Carlisle, afterwards
for a short time in Beaver, Pennsylvania,* and then in
* Judge Gibson used to relate an amusing story of his first appearance at
Beaver. He was approaching the town, riding a very small but powerful little horse,
from which his long legs almost touched the ground. A small countryman, rid
ing a fine large white horse from the town, meeting him, proposed an exchange
of animals, suggesting to the young disciple of Blackstone that he would look
much better mounted on a horse more nearly proportioned to his own size. The
idea appeared to him to possess force ; he was no doubt mindful of the lasting
effect of first appearances, so, after paying the farmer a few dollars "to boot," the
exchange was made. A few minutes later he proudly reined his new acquisition
before the village tavern, where the landlord meeting him as he dismounted, in
quired if he was not afraid to ride a beast which was so evidently stone blind.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 115
Hagerstown, Maryland. It is known to his friends that he
always refused to include in the computation of his age
the time he spent in Hagerstown. It is related on good
authority, that having on one occasion, in the presence of
his brethren of the bench, who knew his age exactly,
stated it as soraewhat less than it really was, and resolutely
reaffirmed it, a calculation was proposed, and readily
assented to by himself. They started with the date of his
admission to the bar, with his stay in Carlisle, and were
about to include the tirae spent at Hagerstown, when the
judge with good-humored violence, broke up the count, and
refused to let it proceed, inveighing strongly against the
injustice of charging him with that item of time, and
assigning nuraerous reasons, which it will not be necessary
to chronicle here. At the lapse of two years and a few
months, he reopened his ofiice in Carlisle, and continued
the practice of his profession in Cumberland and the ad
joining counties until his appointment to the bench.
During the period of Mr. Gibson's practice at the bar,
and for some years preceding itj the professional field in
Pennsylvania had been occupied by a race of lawyers of
rare powers. Of those who practiced in the eastern and
northeastern portions of the State (excluding Philadelphia),
the names of Dick, Sitgreaves, Ross, Ewing, Spering, Pat-
Gibson never forgot this lesson, but throughout life never made pretensions to
any knowledge of horse flesh.
Having seen in a legal journal the statement that Judge Gibson had been
admitted to practice in Common Pleas Court, Allegheny county, as early as
September 26th, 1803, an attempt was made to verify it by examination of the
record at the Prothonatory's office. The court minutes of that period are no
longer in existence. Judge Gibson's name appears as the sixty-second lawyer on
the list admitted to practice in Allegheny county. James Boss heads the list,
with Judge Hugh H. Brackenridge second, both admitted December 16th, 1788.
The late Judge Walter Forward was seventy-third, admitted November 12th,
1806.

116 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
terson, Shaw, Pawling, Evans, Wells, Griffin, Dimmick,
Cross, Mott, Hall and Grahara may be mentioned. The
West had Jas. Ross, Brackenbridge, Addison, Lyon, Woods,
Mason, James and Parker Campell, Alexander, Mountain,
Foster, Steel, Scrapie, Collins, Simonson, Young, Baldwin
and Kennedy. In the counties lying between these extremes
there were Shippen, Watts, Duncan, Hale, Yeates, Darling
ton, Hemphill, Duer, Kittera, Montgomery, Hopkins, George
Ross, Hubley, Charles Smith, Jenkins, Passmore, Barton,
Elder, Fisher, McLean, Laird, Graydon, Biddle, Spayd,
Reed and Bayard. But time would fail me to tell of all.
Many of thera were men of the very first order of intel
lect. In professional learning and ability they seem to
have imbibed much of the spirit bequeathed to thera
by Harailton, and by Francis, the only two lawyers in
Pennsylvania whose reputation has survived the lapse of a
century. In important land causes throughout the State,
they were accustomed to enter the lists with the lawyers of
Philadelphia, then enjoying a supremacy of reputation
throughout the Union, and they proved themselves the
equals of the former in all but the good fortune of
making so permanent a record of their fame. They were
in the main bold, intrepid, self-reliant men, independent in
their thoughts and habits, of strong impulses and under
standings, and capable by an eloquence suited to the people
and the occasion, by superior knowledge of the country
and its customs, of prevailing in many a well contested
battle over their more polished visitors. Let not the
reader be surprised that these lawyers should be spoken
of as learned men. It is true they had few books. In
1800 the only Pennsylvania law books were three volumes
of Dallas' Reports. Not a volume of Johnson's Reports, and

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 117
not a volume of Massachusetts Reports had been pub
lished. Perhaps I ought to say, that with the exception
of Mr. Dallas', not one volume of any regular series of
reports had been published on this side of the Atlantic.
Story had not been admitted to the bar, and the design of
writing a commentary had probably never entered the mind
of Kent. Having few books they studied them well. A
lawyer who was disposed to read raust take Bacon aud
Coke, and authors of that stamp, or not read at all. In
such companionship he raust become saturated with the
very elements of the science ; for nothing in the history erf
the law is more surprising than to observe how few
sound principles have been originated in the vast publica
tions that have since deluged us. The men of that day
had another characteristic. Their physical labors gave them
a degree of bodily vigor and energy which of itself
was no inconsiderable obstacle in the way of an antag
onist in the trial of a cause. Frora 1791 to 1806
there were but five judicial districts in the State,
and there were lawyers who practiced in a number of
them. Now in 1855 we have twenty-five. A county then
was not what a county is now. In 1800 Lycoming
embraced -all the territory which lies between the Alle
gheny river and the western line of Luzerne county,
bounded on the north by the State of New York and on
the south by Northumberland, Mifflin, Huntingdon and
Westmoreland. Its population entitled it to one representa
tive in the legislature. Thirteen entire counties and por
tions of several others now occupy the same space. North
ampton county embraced chiefly what is now Wayne, Pike,
Monroe, Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton. These are illus
trations. Dispensing law in a parlor with the assistance of

118 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
a well stocked library is diflacult enough, but transporting it
in the crown of the hat on horseback over a rough
mountain road must be equally so. I venture to sup
pose that if a sudden requirement were now made on
the denizens of certain destitute frontier settlements on
Walnut street and its vicinity to mount horse ' and display
their prowess in this manner a few retainers (if any
such continue to be paid) could not fail to be returned,
with what reluctance soever, to their original possessors.
Of a truth the lawyer of the present day is intrinsically,
and extraneously, physically and mentally, a different raan
from the lawyer of fifty years ago. The early life of
Judge Gibson was passed with the latter, and no man's
character can be understood without the light which flows
from the associations that have surrounded his youth.
His success at the bar appears to have been equal to
that of the majority of practitioners in the country at
that period of time. In reading our reports I observe
but three cases in which he appeared before the Supreme
Court. The name occurs in others but I have satisfied
myself that the counsel there referred to was Mr. James
Gibson who is mentioned in flattering terms in the
opinion delivered in Hobbs vs. Fogg, 6 Watts, 555. The
first case which Mr. J. B. Gibson is reported as having
argued is that of the Commonwealth vs. Crevor, 3 Binney,
121, which involved a question of interest on a sura
of raoney received by the sheriff, and deposited in bank
under an agreement of the parties, but afterwards with
drawn by the sheriff without their consent. His opponent
was Mr. Duncan, and his colleague, Mr. Watts, and the
judgment of the Supreme Court was in favor of his client.
In his next case. Commonwealth vs. Blain, 4 Binney, 186,

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 119

he was not so successful. The point which he raised was
curious. The Act of 29 March, 1788, in regard to the
births of negro children, directed that an entry should be
made in the book of the clerk of the peace of the county
in which the master or mistress lived, within six months
after the birth of the child, which entry should set forth
its age, name and sex, etc., under the penalty of forfeiting
all right and title to the child, who it was provided should,
in case of the omission of the entry for six months, ira
raediately becorae free; and the entry was to be verified
by the oath of the person who raade it. The defendant,
on the 26th of June, 1807, made an entry of the birth
of the relator in the case, and described him as having
been born on the 2d of January, 1808, which of course
was impossible. Mr. Gibson contended that the registry was
void, and that the negro was free; that the intention of
the Act was to provide record evidence of the time of the
relator's freedom ; that it should be construed most strictly
in favor of liberty; and that where the owner made by
his own fault a registry which was unintelligible and im
possible, it was no registry at all. The court, however,
differed from him and remanded the negro to the claimant.
The remaining case was that of the Commonwealth vs.
Harkness, 4 Binney, 194, which decided that in forcible
entry and detainer, although the indictment does not set out
an offence on the part of the defendant, yet, in the event
of an acquittal, the jury may require the prosecutor to pay
the costs. His argument, as reported by Mr. Binney, seems
to be a conclusive answer to that of Mr. Watts, who was
retained on the other side, and the court in an opinion dei-
livered by each judge, sustained him. It is proper to re
mark that the number of the cases in which he appeared

120 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
in the Supreme Court is by no means a fair criterion of
the extent of his practice, for in that day it was less
common than now to carry cases to the court of last re
sort. In respect to his deportment to clients, a rumor has
prevailed so widely and with such universal credit as to
warrant its repetition here. It is said that he had become
at this time, as he ever afterwards continued, a votary of
music, and that when clients knocked at the front door,
the sound was frequently overcome by the strains which
proceeded from a violin in the hidden recesses of the
office. I ara unable to vouch for the entire correctness of
the story, or to recommend it as an example for imitation.
If true, the instance was unique. Euripides, in his Medea,
is careful to tell us of the power of Orpheus over the
rocks and the trees, and Plato mentions that when the
same personage followed his lost wife to Hades, the charms
of his lyre suspended the torments of the damned. This
was very well for those times. But neither poet nor phi
losopher has been bold enough to inform us of the existence
of any melody sufficient to satisfy modern clients. I cer
tainly have heard few musical airs rapid enough to accord
with their excited emotions, or slow enough to suit their
ideas of the march of justice, or sweet enough to purify
the turbid and bitter waters which litigation lets loose.
Whether or not the rumor respecting these exploits of our
young practitioner be true, it may serve to show a popular
impression that if he wanted clients, the want was ascribed
to other causes than the absence of learning and skill.
The question naturally occurs on taking leave of Mr.
Gibson's professional life, whether he was fitted to attain
eminence at the bar. Certainly, unless his habits of

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 12]
thought had taken a very different turn, he never would
have become a successful advocate. He subsequently studied
the law profoundly, and evinced real genius for it. He
was master of its nicest distinctions, and as capable as any
other raan of applying them to the practical affairs of life.
But these qualities have never yet raade an eminent advo
cate. A man of good sound intellect, well cultivated by
philosophical studies and vigorously applied, may readily
acquire them. The test of the success at the bar is the
capacity to influence a court and jury, and it may be ap
plied almost indiscriminately.
The style of Judge Gibson was well adapted to the
uses to which he put it. It possessed, as we shall see,
raany of the highest and rarest of characteristics of judicial
writing. To every extent in which he had employed such
a mode of conveying his thoughts at the bar, he would
have signally failed. Other disqualifications may also have
existed. He possessed no iiptitude for that exhausting
physical labor so essential to success in the practice of the
law. When well roused, the entire professional raind of the
State knows what he was capable of producing; but both
his raind and his body seemed incapable of exertion, even
to the pitch of writing, unless urged by the exciteraent of
a great subject. Of the practical inconvenience of this, he
frequently complained. I resume the narrative.
In 1810 he was elected by the Democratic party of
Cumberland county a member of the House of Representa
tives of Pennsylvania, and served as such in the sessions
of 1810-11, and 1811-12. His appearance at this time is
recollected by many persons yet on the stage. He was
considerably over six feet in height, with a muscular, well
proportioned frame, and a countenance expressing strong
16

122 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
character and manly .beauty. Until the day of his death,
although his bearing was mild and unostentatious, so
striking was his personal appearance, that few persons to
whora he was unknown could have passed hira in the
street without remark; youth and vigor must have, ren
dered his presence even more comraanding. In the busi
ness of the house, he bore at least a useful part.
Besides giving the customary attention to affairs pertaining
to his own county, and affecting his own constituents,
he originated numerous measures of public irdportance. The
legislature convened on the 4th of December, 1810, and
on the 15th of December he moved for the appointment
of a comraittee "to bring in a bill to abolish the right
of joint tenants to take by survivorship, and to raake real
estate held in joint tenancy divisible. The resolution was
adopted and throughout the session he seeras to have
labored for the passage of the bill with unusual diligence.
On every occasion it was called up on his motion (pp.
100, 290, 306, &c., of the journal). But he was not suc
cessful in passing it until the succeeding session. In the
spring of 1811 the impeachment proceedings against Thomas
Cooper, then president judge of the eighth judicial dis
trict, had begun to occupy a share of public attention, and
on the 7th of March Mr. Gibson was appointed one of
the comraittee to consider the coraplaints against him. On
the 27th of March the comraittee reported the draft of an
address to Governor Snyder for the removal of the judge
from his office. Against this address /and the doctrines
which it advocated Mr. Gibson placed on record a written
protest. The independence of the stand which he took in this pro
ceeding may be appreciated by the fact that out of ninety-five

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 123
members of all parties he was joined in his dissent by
only four, Thoraas Graham, of Luzerne, Jacob Holgate, of
Philadelphia, John W. Cunninghara, of Chester, and
Matthew Brooke, of Montgomery; so high had the tide of
popular sentiment run against the judge.
It was probably the position taken by Mr. Gibson on
this occasion that led to the intimacy which afterwards sub
sisted between himself and Judge Cooper, On the death
of the latter in 1840 Judge Gibson furnished to Pro
fessor Vethake a sketch of the life of his friend, which
will be found in the sixteenth volume of the Ency
clopaedia Americana. He there passes in review his attain
ments in the natural .sciences, in cheraistry, anatoray and
medicine; his matriculation at the university of Oxford; his
residence at the Inns of Court; his attendance on the cir
cuit; his deputation from one of the Democratic clubs in
England to the party of the Gironde in France ; Edmund
Burke's denunciation of him in the House of Coraraons
and Mr. Cooper's reply ; his establishment as a bleacher
and calico printer at Manchester ; his practice as a
lawyer in Northumberland, Pa. ; his prosecution under the
Sedition Act; his appointment as president judge and the
effort at his impeachment; his appointment as professor
of chemistry in Dickinson College, afterwards in the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, and then as president of Columbia
College, South Carolina. The sketch concludes with a
notice of his nuraerous works on law, medicine, politics,
metaphysics and divinity. It is the history of a very ex
traordinary raan, concisely and clearly written. In reference
to the legislative proceedings against hira in 1811, the
author remarks, that " becoming obnoxious to some influ
ential men of his own party, a complaint of arbitrary con-

124 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
duct was got up against him, and so artfully fomented
before the legislature, that he was removed by legislative
address." But this sentiment must be received with some
grains of allowance for the partiality of the writer. If
Judge Cooper had been guilty of one-tenth of the ridicu
lous and almost incredible acts proved against him, he was
certainly a most incompetent presiding officer in a court of
justice. At the session of 1811-12, Mr. Gibson was appointed
chairman of the committee on the judiciary, then, probably,
a better test than it would be now, of advancement in
public estimation. Early in the session, he presented a re
port from a committee appointed respecting a contested
election in Montgomery county, which displays accuracy and
care in the investigation of the subject. His labors in be
half of the bill to abolish joint tenancy were revived thus:
" On motion of Mr. Gibson and Mr. Anderson, ordered
that an item of unfinished business relative to the laws
respecting joint tenancy and the extending of real estate, be
referred to the coraraittee on the judiciary system." The
bill passed finally on 31st March, 1812, and it has since
been regarded so important a provision in our law of real
estate, as to have remained entirely undisturbed, and to
have led to similar legislation in other States. As chair
man of the same committee, he reported a bill " for the
more effectual organization of the courts of comraon pleas
within this commonwealth." He was also a prominent
member of the committee on roads aud inland navigation,
and in that early day threw the weight of his character
in favor of the system of internar improvements, which has
since placed the State among the first in the confederacy.
Without going into more tedious details, these may serve

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 125
as illustrations of the services which he performed in legis
lature. On the 16th of July, 1813, Mr. Gibson was appointed
president judge of the eleventh judicial district, coraposed of
the counties of Tioga, Bradford, Susquehanna and Luzerne.
He had now entered a new sphere. The duties and quali
fications of a lawyer and of a judge are widely different.
The business of a lawyer is to plead a cause; the business
of a judge, to be right in his decisions. A lawyer is to
undertake a case which fairly appears to be just, to state
the facts of it in the most effective manner, and to urge
with his utmost power, the reasons and principles which
support it; a judge is at the peril of his character to see
that by no mischance or design the law is misapplied and
injustice wrought to either party. A lawyer who performs
his duty faithfully, prepares diligently and presents the
cause of his client with clearness, fairness and force, raay
gain reputation and final consolation in the midst of dis
aster, because it is no part of his duty to insure success ;
but a judge who is led aside from the right by sophistry
or prejudice, who takes the rule for the exception, or the
exception for the rule, and fails, to pronounce the law as
it has been established, by whatsoever splendor of rhetoric
or acuteness of reasoning he raay announce the result, but
in that degree signalizes the loss of his reputation and
attracts plunderers to the wreck. All men admit the neces
sity of the judicial office in civilized and perhaps in savage
life; but how few of its incumbents left to their own re
flections without the assistance of forensic discussion, and
particularly discussion of the facts, would be capable of
reaching a just and satisfactory result. The profession of
the law is therefore as necessary as the office of the judge.

126 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Since the dawn of civilization it has existed, and how far
soever it may sink, it will exist while the administration of
justice shall endure. But all eminent lawyers will not make
good judges. It is a fact worthy of observation and sus
ceptible of explanation, that our best judges, both in
America and in England, have been furnished in men who
were not eminent as practitioners. If the digression were
not already too wide, this might be illustrated by reference
to individual cases erabracing the whole range of the law,
and extending very nearly to the present time. The expla
nation is not difficult. A lawyer hears but one side of a
cause, prepares for one side, argues one side; and if it
were not for the practice of giving written opinions, it
would be next to impossible for any man's intellect to re
sist the warping influence of such a state of things. On the
other hand, a judge ought to be, and usually is, engaged
in nothing but that most difficult of all human employ
ments, the ascertainment of truth and the settlement of it
by firmer landmarks. To the general fact we shall see
that the career of Judge Gibson furnishes no exception.
He remained on the bench of the common pleas some
what less than three years. Of the raanner in which he
discharged his duties as a judge of that court it is impos
sible, after this lapse of time, to speak with accuracy. He
has left no monuraent of his labors. Like the fruits
of much of the best ability of the State displayed in the
same sphere, they perished on the spot without a record to
perpetuate their worth. The few survivors of those who
practiced in his court describe hira as exhibiting much
energy in the transaction of judicial business, but too much
impulsiveness in his judgments, both of legal affairs and
of human nature. Even at that early day it is admitted

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 127
that he attracted the attention of learned lawyers through
out the commonwealth, and that his opinions were held by
them in high consideration. The same vigor of thought
and acutene.ss of intellect had doubtless begun to display
theraselves which afterwards shone so conspicuously on every
page that received his opinions.
On the 27th of June, 1816, he was brought more
prominently before the public by receiving from Governor
Snyder the appointment of an associate justice of the
Supreme Court in place of Hugh H. Brackenridge, deceased,
and he was succeeded in the presidency of the common
pleas by Thoraas Burnside, whose career on the bench, and
in the State and national councils is fresh in the recollec
tion of all. This appointraent seems for the first tirae to
have roused his intellect and to have fired his arabi-
tion. It withdrew him from companions in the country to
whom his warm affections and genial temper had greatly
endeared hira, and this fact, while it lost him the means
of much agreeable relaxation delivered him from numerous
temptations to indolence and dissipation.* It withdrew hira
also from politics, the grave of a vast amount of intel
lectual force, which, if devoted to the practice of the law,
* From the account of his life, elsewhere presented, whilst a resident of
Wilkesbarre, there is no reason to suppose that Judge Gibson, for want of legal
employment in that place would have grown indolent. Through all his life
until age and a great increase of flesh weighted him down, he was vigorous and
active in his movements. His fondness of nature gave a vent for his study, par
ticularly of the then, new, science of geology, while no doubt much of his lei
sure was also devoted to the study of medicine. Nor was there at the period of
his life, here referred to by Judge Porter, nor at any after period, cause for
apprehension that under any circumstances Judge Gibson would have become
dissipated. It is more reasonable to think that for want of sufficient employment
in his profession, his attention would have been more and more directed to medi
cine, and that he might eventually have become a physician. Men of decided
genius never stand still, and where their genius is in several directions, as was
Judge Gibson's, they will Aot be long in abandoning any particular path when
progress in it seems impossible.

128 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
might have at least earned for itself a more respectable
name. In Philadelphia, where the court sat for the
longest period of the year, he mingled much less than at
a subsequent part of his life, in general society, and was
much less known to all classes of its citizens. The reason
or, the result was, that he had become more devoted to
study. He seems at length to have formed the reso
lution to make himself master of the law as a science.
At some time in his life it is evident that he was a dili
gent student of Coke. No reader of his opinions can fail
to be struck with the frequent and pointed illustra
tions which they draw from that author. Doubtless the
quaintness of his style, the careless and disorderly raixture
of things great and small, and those unceasing covert puffs
of Littleton which everywhere meet the reader, amused the
new student as much as they have amused lesser raen,
while the grasp of his author's intellect, the severity of his
logic, and the abrupt, direct, forcible, and natural expres
sion of his thoughts, waked strangely agreeable emo
tions in a mind conscious of the possession of vast but
slumbering power. There have indeed been few lawyers
worthy of the name who have not been fainiliar with
the commentaries and reports of Coke. Eminent jurists
have advanced the opinion that no student could read
them without catching enough of the author's spirit to
give the reader an important impulse in his pro
fessional studies. This is possible,, but I apprehend the
effect of his writings may ' be traced to other causes. They
are the great .source of law learning. The natural dread
of every practitioner unacquainted with them,, that his
antagonists possess more learning than himself, forces him
back to the fountain head. In a few years he returns

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 129
established in a confidence which no assumption of erudi
tion in others can shake. When driven into the lowest
depths of legal investigation, he stands like a man in deep
water whose feet rest on solid ground. Unless nature has
endowed him beyond her usual allotment to mortals, he
cannot be sure of his footing until the foundations of
the system have been thus exploded. In the case of
Judge Gibson's study of Coke, I feel confident from all the
evidence I have obtained, that it was mainly pursued within
a few years after his elevation to the bench of the Supreme
Court. That court had jogged on frora the period of its ori
gin, with but three judges on -the bench. It was now to
experience important and rapid changes. Under an Act
passed by the General Assembly -on the 8th of April, 1826,
increasing the number of judges to five, Moulton C. Rogers
and Charles Houston were respectively comraissioned by
Governor Schultz on the 15th and 17th of April, 1826.
But little more than a year had elapsed, when another
change was occasioned by the death of Judge Tilghman.
" He continued," says Mr. Binney, " to preside in the Su
preme Court with his accustomed dignity and effect, until
the succeeding winter, when his constitution finally gave
way, and after a short confinement, on Monday, the 30th
of April, 1827, he closed his eyes forever." "It will be
long," adds his eulogist, " very long, before we shall open
ours upon a wiser judge, a sounder lawyer, a riper scholar,
a purer man, or a truer gentleman." "Such," he concludes,
" is the praise of the late Chief Justice Tilghman. He
merited, by his public works and by his private virtues,
the respect and affection of his countrymen; and the best
wish for his country and his office is, that his mantle may
17

130 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
have fallen upon his successor." That successor was the
subject of the present sketch, who had been commissioned
chief justice on the 18th of May, 1827, and whose place
in the ranks of the associates had been supplied by the
appointment of Judge Tod, in the same month. We shall
see that the wish thus expressed by the orator was not
unfulfilled. The powers of the new chief justice seem to
have caught a fresh impulse from the erainence to which
they had conducted hira. Even then his style was no mean
vehicle of judicial thought; but it soon acquired infinitely
more massiveness, compactness and polish. His original
style, compared to that in which he now began to write,
was like the sinews of a growing lad compared to the
well-knit muscles of a man. No one who has carefully
studied his productions can have failed to have remarked
the increased power and pith which distinguished thera from
this tirae forward. The gradual and uniform progress of
his mind may be traced in his opinions, with a certainty
and satisfaction which are probably not afforded in the case
of any other judge known to our annals.
Tn the year following his appointment as chief jfistice,
the friends of General Jackson, whose cause he advocated with
so much warmth as was consistent with a judicial place,
desirous to secure for their candidate the highest measure
of popular confidence, placed the name of the chief justice
at the head of their electoral ticket for Pennsylvania, and
the ticket thus nominated received in the State an almost
unprecedented majority over the vote cast for any other
candidate. On the 19th of November, 1838, he resigned his com
mission of .chief justice, and was re-appointed by Governor
Ritner. This act received at the time the censure of a

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 131
large portion of the press. The Constitution of 1838,
which had then been approved by a vote of the people,
provided for a change of the judicial tenure, frora that of
life to a terra of years, and for the gradual extinction,
according to a prescribed scale, of the commissions then
held by the judges; that is, their commissions were to ex
pire at intervals of three years, in the order of seniority
in which they stood on 1st January, 1839. In comra'on ¦
with a majority of intelligent citizens in almost every por
tion of the State, except along its northern boundary, Judge
Gibson had been decidedly hostile to the adoption of this
instrument, and supposed it the forerunner of disorder and
confusion. In this frame of mind, a voluntary suggestion
was made by his associates for his re-appointment as chief
justice, the effect of which would be to prolong for several
years his term of office. The proposal seeras to have been
made and accepted with slight consideration on either side.
It was believed that a judge could resign his office at any
moment, and that no right to prevent this existed in the
people or in any depository power. It was equally clear
that the Executive, when the office had become vacant, had
the right to fill it by the appointment of any competent
person. The constitutional and legal views of the subject
were thus believed free from the difficulty. Hear his own
views as expressed in a letter to W. M. Roberts, Esq., of
the 13th December, 1838. In the music of his periods
there is a sad note which will find its way to the heart
of the reader.
"To me, who, for a bare subsistence, had given the
flower of my life to the public, instead of ray dependent
family, a continuance in office of the longest period was
a matter of vital importance; but the arrangement of

132 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
the convention, unintentionally severe to me or any one
else, proposed to consign me to penury and want, at a
time of life when I could scarcely expect to establish
myself in practice, which, under the most favorable circum
stances, requires several years. This was known to my
brethren, and felt by them as raen. The raeasure, since
carried into execution, was proposed by one of thefn on the
western circuit, and with the assent of another, whose term
would be shortened by it. The assent of the other, who
stood in the same predicament, was cordially given, as soon
as it was mentioned to him. Feeling, then, that the per
sonal interest of no one else was concerned ; that it was
an arrangeraent which contravened no principle of public
duty; and that if any objection lay to it on the ground
of public expediency, it would be enforced by the consti
tutional arbiter, I permitted a personal friend, with whom
I have never coincided in party sentiment, to subrait it to
the Executive for his sanction or rejection.
" No condition, express or implied, was attached to the
appointment, nor was it hinted that anything was expected.
What could I do for the governor or his friends? Per
sonally I had nothing to offer, for my early retirement from"
the political arena had left me without influence, and offi
cially I had still less."
And what injunction of the amended constitution, or
what presuraptive intent of the convention has been frus
trated by the arrangeraent so harshly complained of? To
introduce the favorite principle of rotation, it was necessary
to point out tne raanner of its application in the first
instance by fixing some rule of procedure; and the rule of
seniority was adopted because it was more definite and con
venient than any other. It will not be said that it was

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 133
adopted with a view to personal considerations connected with
the present judges. If they, or any of them, had died in
the meantirae it would have operated exactly in the same
way on their successors.
" Had the convention intended that the amendments
should fix the destinies of the individuals before the sys
tem should go into operation, it would have said so in
terms instead of saying the contrary. But no such thing
was proposed even in debate. Instead of specifying the day
of final adjournment as the criterion, which would have done
had the intent been to fix those destinies as of that day,
the araendraents were left to fix them expressly as of a
day not yet come. Is it not clear, then, that the conven
tion did not mean to concern itself about changes in the
meantirae? Forbid them, it certainly did not. It was suf
ficient for the system, without regard to the individual,
that the commission of a judge would expire every three
years, a result that must as certainly follow, notwithstand
ing the change of place betwixt the judges, as if no such
change had been made. That the convention meant not to
discriminate on the score of years of vigor is manifest frora
the actual application of their principle, by which the
youngest in years was to go out first; and betwixt myself
and my brethren who are to be affected by my re-appoint
ment, the difference in that respect is that one of them is
six years ray senior and the other one year ray junior."
These were the views which influenced his mind in
accepting the commission. His raotives no raan who knew
him could doubt. He was too proud to do wrong, if he
had been restrained by no better feeling. No man ever
admired mire sincerely than he, high and elevated senti
ment and conduct on every subject, and no man ever more

134 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
cordially despised evasion, indirectness or duplicity. This
seeras to have been adraitted by common consent on the
part of the political press on both sides, by dropping the
subject and agreeing not to renew the discussion on subse
quent occasions when it might have been rendered promi
nent in party warfare. But it must be admitted that the
act was a raistake and an accident to his farae. As such
he afterwards felt it. There was no necessity for it. The
people, as we shall see, took the earliest opportunity to
re-elect hira to his office at a period when the advance of
age had rendered his capacity to serve them less complete
than at any time after his first appointraent to office. The
acts of every raan, and emphatically every public man, which
relate to others, should be right, and consequences should
take care of theraselves; when they relate to himself,
they should not only be right but reasonably clear of the
possibility of censure.
In this year he received from the University of Penn
sylvania the degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor which is
believed to have been rarely granted by that institution.
The same degree was subsequently conferred on him by
the University of Cambridge, Mass., a spontaneous tribute
paid to his worth by the distinguished professors who for
so many years directed the law department of that univer
sity, and to whom he was known chiefly by the productions
,of his pen.
In 1848, 1849 and 1850, the principle of an elective
judiciary was engrafted on the Constitution of Pennsylvania.
On the 11th of June, 1851, a convention of one of the
political parties of the State assembled at Harrisburg to
nominate five candidates to fill the offices of judges of the
Supreme Court. The only member of the then existing court

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 135
who was placed on that ticket was Judge Gibson. The nomi
nation was an act of high homage to his character. It was
the result of that feeling. He was more than seventy years
of age, too old, if he had been willing, to accomplish by his
own energy anything to promote his nomination, and as unac
quainted as a child with partisan politics and with party
leaders. In one sense the nomination was a rebuke to hira
self. He had seldora lost an opportunity to express his want
of confidence in popular action, and his disapprobation of
every movement designed to enlarge the boundaries of popular
power. He took as little pains to conceal his sentiments on
this point as on all others, and while he expressed them
decorously, he uttered them boldly. It must, therefore, have
cost him some surprise, if not compunction, to find that
carrying into practical effect the very movement of which
he had most horror, the people, through their representatives,
chose to retain their hold of him as one of their most
important public servants. In yet another respect his nom
ination was meraorable.* For raany years a disposition has
* Modesty probably forbade Judge Porter speaking of himself in a memoir
of another, and of the part which he took in this nominating convention. He
waited thirty years to tell the story, and as it concerns as well our late able Chief
Justice Mercur, and introduces also a glimpse of Judge Black, it becomes of
triple interest, and adds a welcome posthumous leaf to the work in hand from the
fertile pen of Gibson's biographer. It is taken from a lengthy letter by Judge
Porter on his " Eecollections of Black," published in the Philadelphia Press,
Oct. 16th, 1883.
" When the principle of an elective judiciary was engrafted on the Consti
tution of Pennsylvania (the heaviest curse which, in my judgment, ever fell upon
the people) [here Judge Porter appears to agree with what he had criticised
Judge Gibson for thirty years previously], a Democratic convention assembled
at Harrisburg in June, 185 1, to nominate candidates for judges of the Supreme
Court, then five in number. Before it assembled. Judge Black, in reply to a let
ter from the present writer, said that he was not a candidate, that he had a com
fortable home in Somerset, that his district exactly suited him, and that he
greatly preferred his then present life to wandering up and down the State, hunt
ing up errors for correction. -When the convention assembled, it became evi-

136 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
prevailed in Pennsylvania to overthrow rather than to sustain
raen of distinguished ability. It has long been the subject of
remark at horae and abroad, that it seems only necessary for -a
man of more than ordinary capacity to appear in the politics
of that State to be struck at by every other politician, great
and small. For this reason, probably, in the sixty-seven
years which have elapsed since the adoption of the Federal
Constitution we have not sent to Congress one man in ten
years capable of making an impression there, and not more
than three or four who could lay claim to high ability.
dent at once that Judge Lewis, Judge Campbell and Judge Black would be
nominated. The doubt was, whether we could nominate Gibson, who did not
belong to the party which had called the convention. I happened to sit in that
convention as a delegate, side by side with the present Chief Justice Mercur,
who was then rising into prominence in the northern part of the State.
In the course of our conference I learned with pleasure that one of his
objects in attending was to nominate Gibson, and we both labored heartily for
that end. Gibson was nominated by a majority of two votes, and Mr. Mercur
and myself, of course, claimed to be the persons^ who gave those votes. It is a
pleasant recollection to me that, without our votes, certainly without our exer
tions, the State would have been guilty of passing by in his old days the greatest
judge who ever sat in her courts.
It is not my purpose to speak of Judge Black as a judge of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania. His decisions lie open to the world. By them he must
be judged. I cannot, however, omit to state that I was present at such a scene in
the Supreme Court as scarcely ever occurred there before or since, namely, when
his dissenting opinion in Hole vs. JRittenhouse, 2 Philadelphia Reports, page
411, was delivered. No one can understand this remark without reading that
opinion. Take for example the concluding paragraph :
' The judgment now about to be given is one of 'death's doings.' No one
can doubt that if Judge Gibson and Judge Coulter had lived, the plaintiff' could
not have been thus deprived of his property, and thousands of other men would
have been saved from the imminent danger to which they are now exposed, of
losing the homes they have labored and paid for. But they are dead ; and the
law which should have protected those sacred rights has died with them. It
is a melancholy reflection that the property of a citizen should be held by a tenure
so frail. But ' new lords, new laws, ' is the order of the day. Hereafter, if any
man be off'ered a title which the Supreme Court has decided to be good, let him
not buy if the judges who made this decision are dead ; if they are living, let
him get an insurance on their lives, for ye know not what a day or an hour may
bring forth.
' The majority of this court changes on the average once every nine years,

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 137
There is scarcely a congressional district in the State from
which a member could be returned for more than two terms.
So far is the policy pushed that it is becoming impossible to
re-elect any one to an important office within the State, be
his ability what it may.
The renomination of such a raan as Judge Gibson, even
to a judicial office, was a notable exception to our usual
course of policy. Happy for our jurisprudence if it remained
not an exception.
without counting the chances of death and resignation. If each new set of
judges shall consider themselves at liberty to overthrow the doctrines of their
predecessors, our system of jurisprudence (if system it can be called) would be the
most fickle, uncertain and vicious that the civilized world ever saw. A French
constitution, or a South American republic, or a Mexican administration would
be an immortal thing in comparison to the short lived principles of Pennsyl
vania law. The rules of property, which ought to be as steadfast as the hills,
will become as unstable as the waves. To avoid this great calamity, I know of no
resource but that of stare decisis. I claim nothing for the great men who have
gone before us on the score of their marked and manifest superiority. But I
would stand by their decisions, because they have passed into the law and become
a part of it — have been relied on and acted on — and rights have grown up under
them which it is unjust and cruel to take away.'
Each of the judges replied to this opinion with as much warmth as the dis
senting judge had manifested, and the whole scene cannot be forgotten by those
who witnessed it."

Note — It might be inferred from the above that Judge Gibson was not con
sidered a Democrat at the time of the meeting of this convention,, but there is no
evidence to show that he had deserted the party. He had necessarily been out of
politics for forty years, but there is every reason to suppose that his sympathies
were with the Democrats. General Simon Cameron went to Carlisle about this
time, to urge him to do something for himself. The general told him while he
would catch all the lawyers' votes, to the people he was almost a stranger, etc.,
etc., and that he might fail of a majority of the popular suffrage. But to this
appeal Judge Gibson replied in eff'ect that he would say or do nothing, or express
in any way his preference of party or platforms. If the people were not satis
fied with his record as a judge, or knew practically nothing of him or his sphere
of duties, in either case, or in any event, he would give no sign that he accorded
with partisan methods in filling the office. General Cameron departed promis
ing that in his tour of the State he would endorse him notwithstanding his
averments, and nobly he fulfilled his promise.
18

138 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
On assuming his seat as an associate justice after his
election in 1851 he appeared to take much less interest
than forraerly in the proceedings of the court, and much
less part in its business.* He seemed like a noble bird
that had been by some unexpected event thrown into a
strange flock, which, whether better or worse, were not his
old associates, but, of necessity, widely different and belong
ing almost to a different age. When occupying his seat
on the bench, there was a look of abstraction, which told
that his thoughts dealt more with the past than with the
present. The powers of his mind however had lost nothing of
their ancient vigor. When he wrote at all, he wrote like
himself. During the sessions of the court in the country
he occupied the bench with his brethren, and delivered an
occasional opinion. In Philadelphia he seemed to prefer to
hold the Court of Nisi Prius, for this caused him less
labor after the usual court hours. In this mode, for the
most part, he performed his duties until the occurrence of
that last change, which I am to record further on in the
narrative. It is necessary to say something of the manner in which
his judgraents have been reported. We have occasionally had
excellent reporting in Pennsylvania, but a portion of it can
not be described by any but very uncharitable terras. Some
of the volumes are hardly written in English. I am look
ing now at two of them in my library (not of cases in
the highest court), which I will pre-sent to any one who can
show rae one page of correct English from the hand of
* Not many months after his election Judge Gibson was prostrated with a
severe, attack of cholera, as is elsewhere noticed. If there was a change in his
deportment and appearance, it must be attributed solely to his physical disa
bilities.

AS A LAWYEH, legislator AND JUDGE. 139
the reporter in the entire two volumes. From such report
ing it is as impossible to obtain an intelligible statement of
a case as to procure it frora a chapter of the Koran. The
effect on the opinion of the judge is manifest. A good
judicial effort may be caricatured by a repoirter, just as a
gentleman may be made a harlequin by his tailor. The
soundest wisdom that ever emanated frora the bench may be
converted into its opposite by the statement of the reporter,
on which the judge generally does and always should rely.
When a single fact is left out, or so stated that nobody
can understand it, much raore when a mass of facts are
omitted, and those which exist are clothed with undue
importance, the judge's pen must possess superhuman power
if it could adapt its productions to these arbitrary and
unanticipated changes. Judge Gibson suffered from this
cause more than judges usually do, for the reason that
more than all others he relied on the statement of. the
reporter, and concerned hiraself only with the principles of
the cause. We view many of his writings under this dis
advantage. He delivered his first opinion on the supreme bench in
the case of the Commonwealth vs. Holloway, 2 S. & R.,
305, which decided that birth in Pennsylvania gives free
dom to the child of a slave who had absconded from
another State before she became pregnant. The style of
the opinion is natural and pure, but in conciseness and force
it contrasts strongly with that in which he wrote twenty
years afterwards.
In Glow vs. Woods, 5 S. & R., 275, he established the
doctrine that on a private sale of chattels retention of pos
session by the vendor is fraudulent against creditors and
bona fide pui-chasers. Frora that tiine to the presierit this

140 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
has been a leading case, and is much relied on in our
own and other States. In the excellent note which the
American editors have appended to Twyne's case, in Smith's
collection of leading cases, due prominence is assigned it.
Any one who desires to estimate the value of the decision
which imparted this direction to the law of Pennsylvania
has only to study the difficulties and inconsistencies in
which the courts of the United States, of Virginia, Ken
tucky, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire and South Carolina,
on the one hand, and Massachusetts, Maine, Ohio, Tennessee,
and perhaps Alabama, on the other, have become involved by
adopting different rules. The forecast which the opinion in
Clow vs. Woods displays was all that saved our own juris
prudence frora similar confusion on a topic so fruitful of
litigation. In Watson vs. Mercer, 6 S. & R., 49, he foreshadows that
dissatisfaction with the principles of the common law respect
ing the rights of married women, which, nearly twenty years
afterwards, was to lead to the adoption of our Act of 11th
April, 1848.* The passage which I transcribe will afford a
fair specimen of his style at this period of his life :
* More than twenty years after the death of Judge Gibson the Constitutional
Convention of 1873, acting upon hints thrown out in some of his opinions, made
important changes in the instrument it was called together to consider. A case
in point is cited, where his phraseology was adopted and now forms a very
important clause in the laws determining damjiges to property by corporations,
etc. Mention of the fact is raade in the case of the Pittsburgh Junction E. E.,
plaintiff' in error, vs. Wm. McCutcheon, defendant in error. Messrs. Johns Mc-
Cleave and W. B. Eodgers, counsel for plaintiflf, in their argument, as found in their
paper book, state :
" As to the constitutional provision. It is conceded that this action could
"not be supported under the law as it stood prior to 1874, but it is supposed that
"Section 8, Art. 16, of the constitution of 1874, has changed the law upon this
" subject, and that this action can be maintained under this provision. The sec-
" tion referred to provides as follows :
" Municipal and other corporations and. individuals, invested with the privi
lege of taking private property for public use, shall make just compensation for

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 141
" In no country where the blessings of the coraraon law
are felt and acknowledged are the interest and estates of raar-
ried woraen so entirely at the mercy of their husbands as in
Pennsylvania. This exposure of those who, from the defence
less state in which even the coraraon law has placed thera, are
least able to protect themselves, is extenuated by no motive of
policy and is by no means credible to our jurisprudence. The
subordinate and dependent condition of the wife opens to the
husband such an unbounded field to practice on her natural
timidity, or to abuse a confidence never sparingly reposed in
return for even occasional and insidious kindness, that there is
nothing, however unreasonable or unjust, to which he cannot
procure her consent. The policy of the law should be, as far
as possible, to harrow rather than to widen the field of this
controlling influence. In England the courts of equity will
property taken, injured or destroyed, by the construction or enlargement of their
works, or improvements, etc.''
*» ***x**
" This phraseology, taken, injured or destroyed, was taken from the opinion of
Chief Justice Gibson in O'Connor vs. City of Pittsburgh, 18 Pa. St., 190. They
are the words of a great lawyer who understood their precise import, etc.''
The language in the case cited, of Judge Gibson's, on this point is as fol
lows :
"Yet it must be admitted that, while it is inequitable to injure the property
of an individual for the benefit of the many, it would be impossible for a cor
poration to bear the pressure of successive common law actions for the continu
ance of a nuisance, each verdict being more severe than the preceding one.
The modification of the remedy ¦would be for the legislators, which can turn
compensation for a permanent detriment into the price of a prospective license ;
but to attain complete justice every damage to private property ought to be com
pensated by the State or corporation that occasioned it, and a general statutory
remedy ought to be provided to assess the value. The constitutional provision
for the case of private property taken for public use, extends not to the case of
property injured or destroyed ; but it follows not that the omission may not be sup
plied by ordinary legislation.''
The compiler is indebted to R. B. Carnahan, Esq., for references to the above
opinion of Judge Gibson.

142 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
not assist the husband to obtain possession of his wife's per
sonal property, although it becomes his absolutely on the raar
riage, before he makes an adequate settlement; here he has the
power to obtain her personal estate, not only without condition
but in some instances by means of the intestate acts, even to
turn her real into personal estate against her consent. In
other countries the wife's dower, that sacred provision which
the law makes for her, in return for the personal property
she brought her husband, and in recorapense of a life-time
devoted to him and his children, is put beyond the reach
of every effort which selfishness or profligacy can make to
deprive her of it; in this, it may be swept away by his
debts contracted in the gratification of his vices. In the
country whence we derive our law.s, the wife's land can be
aliened only with her consent, deliberately expressed on a
fair, full and careful separate examination in a court of
record ; in this, the examination is considered a matter of
such little importance that it is intrusted to a justice of
the peace, by whom it is sometimes entirely dispensed with
in fact," etc.
I point the attention of the reader in the next place to
the case of the Commonwealth vs. Chreen and others, Al
Wharton, 531, a case, says Judge Rogers, p. 606, "without
precedent, and presenting some extraordinary features." It
arose out of the division which occurred in 1837 in the
Presbyterian Church, an institution which for more than
two centuries and a half has served the cause of civil
liberty so well as to have merited better treatment from
the members of her own household. The case occasioned
intense interest in every part of the Uuion. On the trial
at Nisi Prius a verdict was rendered in favor of the

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 143
relators, the effect of which, if it had stood, would have
been to declare the trustees elected by the New School
body, the true, legal aud proper trustees of the general
asserably of that church. Reasons for a new trial were
filed (sixty-five in nuraber), and after argument before the
court in banc, an opinion was pronounced making the rule
for a new trial absolute. If the reader possesses any par
tisan views of the subject, it is quite probable that in this
case, as in others, they will influence his estimate of the
result which was reached ; but I see not how anv one
farailiar with the best efforts of the human mind in the
solution of difficult questions of law or morals can fail to
admire the powers of analysis and the condensation which
the opinion of Judge Gibson in that case displays. He
threads his way with a confidence and skill almost match
less, through constitutions, systems of church polity, plans
of union, maxims of ecclesiastical government, books of dis
cipline, rules, orders, motions, debates, synods, presbyteries,
congregations and associations, some of thera referring
to nearly a century of tirae, and all of thera evi
dently unknown to hira before the arguraent. Any one
who has read the case can scarcely be surprised that the
opinion of the judge should have had the effect of prevent
ing all other litigation on the subject.
Any meraoir of Judge Gibson would be incomplete
without some notice of his agency in settling the law of
Pennsylvania on the subject of riots. The people of the
State, and perhaps of the Union, will not soon forget the
popular commotions which prevailed in Philadelphia between
the years 1836 and 1846. We had the abolition riots,
railroad riots, the negro riots, the weavers' riots, and the
Native American riots. Having run short of names, terri-

144 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
torial designations were adopted, and we had the Moyamen-
sing, Southwark and Kensington riots. Interspersed with
these were the riots of various fire companies, who seemed
to have achieved little distinction until their merabers had
been bound over to each successive term of the quarter sesy
sions. Learned jurists were at work in the meantime. It
was easily shown that this disorder was all wrong; that the
power to suppress it must exist somewhere; that the sheriff
could employ both civil and military power; that all citizens
were bound to obey his requisition; that peaceable citizens
were more numerous than the disorderly; that the riots could
therefore be put down, and must be put down. Editors, law
yers, judges and philosophers, all agreed in opinion, and
resolved that there raust be no more riots. This was very
well, but the riots continued. Good citizens ascertained that
if they disobeyed the sheriff's summons they would be fined,
and if they complied with it their heads would be broken,
and with strange contempt for the law, and unaccountable for-
getfulness of their civil duties, they preferred to encounter the
fine. The sheriff therefore went to the attack with men
the value of whose assistance may be estimated in proportion
to the price they placed on their own heads, and to whom any
attempt to test the thickness of their skulls was of small con
sequence, provided they received compensation for turning out.
The writer of these pages saw but one of those bodies' of men
so famous in legal treatises under the title of posse, and he
hopes to be excused for his want of taste in not desiring to
see another. The description of Falstaff's regiment renders
any account of it unnecessary. Their conduct was what everv
one but a writer of disquisitions could have predicted. At
the first discharge of arms by the mob they left the command
ing officer with five men out of three hundred. The military

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 145
were next thought of; but when the military arrived, the mob
was not there; and when the military had dispersed, the mob,
by a singular coincidence, again convened. Thus every
theoretical means existed that could have been desired to effect
the end, and the practical means were absent to a degree that
made all efforts of the kind simply contemptible. In the
meantime the character of our city had suffered immensely.
Accounts of the disturbances, bad enough if not exaggerated,
had been extensively published, both at home and abroad, and
one of the most peaceful and peace-loving communities in this
sisterhood of States had begun to be known as the city of
riots. The commotions of 1844 filled up the measure of our
shame. Two churches, a school houise, and numerous private
dwellings were reduced to ashes. All men felt that the time
had come when the law raust do something, if it could do
anything. Inferior tribunals quailed before the mob spirit,
and the mass of the rioters arrested were acquitted and dis
charged. An opportunity now presented itself to the chief
justice to display his powers. The Act of 3lst May, 1841,
founded on that of George I, authorized the owners of prop
erty in the county of Philadelphia, destroyed by this spe
cies of violence, to bring suits against the county for the
injuries sustained, and numerous suits were brought under
the authority of the act. The case of Donoghue vs. The
County, was the first on the list, and the chief justice held
the court. His charge was worthy of the man, and of the
occasion. No one who heard it can forget its influence on
the case, on the subsequent cases, and on the community.
One of the chief defences set up, that armed men had fired
on the crowd from the building afterwards burned, was demol
ished with a boldness, an energy, and an eloquence rarely sur
passed in judicial proceedings. He disregarded utterly the
19

146 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
distinction which had been taken between defending a dwell
ing house and a church, and held that a man has the same
right to defend and to take life in defence of the place in
which he worships God, as of the doraicile which shelters
his family. He carried the doctrine even further, and applied
it to the school contiguous to the church, in which the chil
dren were receiving their education. In the meagre scrap of
the charge which is reported in 2 Barr, 231, this is suffi
ciently evident. The result was a verdict in favor of the
plaintiff for the whole amount of the property destroyed. A
similar result followed in the case of the Hermits of St.
Augustine vs. The County, Brightly's Reports, 116, and in
that of the St. Michael's Church vs. The County, Brightly's
Reports, 121. Of a different verdict in the first case, on
that turning point between the dominion of law and the
dominion of violence, no raan could have ventured to pre
dict the result. From that time to this we have had no
riots. Other causes have contributed to produce this state
of things ; but no one act tended more directly to restore
permanent good order and to re-establish popular confidence
in the people themselves, than the manly and patriotic
course of Judge Gibson in the case of Donoghue vs. The
County. Business raen began to feel that if they were cer
tainly liable to pay their own proportion of the property
thus destroyed, it was their pecuniary interest to require its
preservation. Lawless men found that they inflicted no injury
on the objects of their violence when the property destroyed
was paid for at its highest value. Patriotic men, both at
home and abroad, were glad to discover in these proceed
ings fresh evidence of the power which a wise and benig
nant system of law administered by an enlightened judge may
exert among a free people.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 147
Braddee vs. BrownfieM, 2 W, & S., 271, was an instance
of lamentable acquiescence in legislative encroachment. In
that case the legislature had passed an act directing a judg
ment to be opened and the defendant let into a defence.
The court, on grounds which it is hard to understand, in
place of rebuking this usurpation of judicial functions pro-.
nounce it " the exercise of a jurisdiction of a remedial
character, partly legislative and partly judicial, and not in
violation of the constitution." The principle thus announced
continued to be the law of Pennsylvania for nearly ten
years, and until Judge Gibson upturned it in the case of
De Chastellux vs. Fairchild. His memory would deserve
well of the State if he never had delivered another opinion.
I hold these to be words of wisdom :
" If anything is self-evident in the structure of our
governraent, it is that the legislature has no power to order
a new trial, or to direct the court to order it, either before
or after judgraent. The power to order new trials is judi
cial, but the power of the legislature is not judicial. It is
liraited to the raaking of laws ; not to the exjfbsition or
execution of them. The functions of the several parts of
the government are thoroughly separated, and distinctly
assigned to the principal branches of it, the legislative, the'
executive, and the judiciary, which, within their respective
departments, are equal and co-ordinate. Each derives its
authority, mediately or immediately, from the people, and
each is responsible, mediately or immediately, to the people
for the exercise of it. When either shall have usurped the
powers of one or both of its fellows, then will have been
affected a revolution, not in the form of the government,
but in its action. Then will there be a concentration of
the powers of the government in a single branch of it.

148 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
which, whatever may be the form of the constitution, will
be a despotism, a government of unlimited, irresponsible and
arbitrary rule. It is idle to say the authority of each branch
is defined and limited in the constitution, if there be not an
independent power able and willing to enforce the limitations.
Experience proves that it is thoughtlessly but habitually
violated; and the sacrifice of individual right is too remotely
connected with the objects and contests of the masses to
attract their attention.
"From its every position it is apparent that the conserv
ative power is lodged with the judiciary, which in the exer
cise of its undoubted right is bound to meet every emergency;
else causes would be decided not only by the ^legislature,
but, sometimes, without hearing or evidence. The mischief
has not yet come to that, for the legislature has gone no
farther than to order a rehearing on the merits ; but it is
not more intolerable in principle to pronounce an arbitrary
judgraent against a suitor than it is injurious in practice to
deprive hira of a judgment which is essentially his prop
erty, and to subject him to the vexation, risk and expense
of another contest.
" It has become the duty of the court to temporize no
longer, but to resist temperately, though firmly, any invasion
of its province, whether great or small."
After this his opinions were less frequent, and I forbear
to trace them. I go back only to notice the peculiarity of
expression and illustration to be found in some of them.
In Riddle vs. Welden, 5 Wharton, 15, in considering
whether the goods of a boarder are liable for rent due by
the keeper of the boarding house, he supports himself by
an authority more frequently referred to at the bar than on
the bench : " In fact his (the lodger's) right to enter and

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 149
use the inn for his accommodation stands on the footing of
his legal right to enter and use his own house, which is
his castle, and in other respects more highly privileged. It
is his own while he uses it, and Falstaff speaks with legal
precision when he demands, ' Can I not take raine ease in
mine inn ? ' " In Gowen vs. The Philadelphia Exchange Co.,
5 W. & S., 144, he calls Sliylock to his aid and speaks
of the "hall where merchants most do congregate." In
Logan vs. Mason, 6 W. & S., 13, he affirms that " the
morality of the New Testament is for all times, and that
the maxim cannot endure a test so severe, is proof as strong
as holy writ that there is something wrong in it," a very
just sentiment, which he carae very near expressing in the
words of lago, who speaks of " confirmation strong as proofs
of holy writ." In Patterson vs. Poindexter, 6 W. & S.,
227, he declares that " the contract of endorsement is not
an independent one, but a parasite, which like the chame
leon, takes the hue of the thing with which it is connected."
In Rogers vs. Walker, 6 Barr, 375, he pronounces certain
exceptions, " a reticulated web to catch the crumbs of the
cause, and as they contain no poiut or principle of par
ticular importance, they are dismissed without further remark."
In Hays vs. Harden, 6 Barr, 413, in discussing the effect
of affixing a mark to a legal instrument, he speaks of the
" will of a marksman" in terms that would suggest an idea
very different from his own, on the Allegheny raountains,
or in the territory of Kansas. In Weiting vs. Nissley, 1
H., 655, he declares that " the record in this case, as in most
others, has exceptions, like the pockets of a billiard table,
to catch lucky chances from random strokes of the play
ers; but as they have caught nothing in this instance
it is unnecessary to enter into a particular investigation

150 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
of them." In Shannon vs. The Oommonwealth, 2 Harris,
228, in referring to the law of adultery he supposes " the
framers of it knew the futility of attempting to smother
the instincts of our nature, or to cleanse our thoughts by
an Act of Asserably." Other instances of the use of
expressions so novel in judicial opinions raight be gleaned
from his writings. In quoting them I have intended only
to present thera to the reader.
His manner of reaching his conclusions aud writing his
opinions was well known. It is believed that he took little
part in the consultations of the bench, coraraunlcating his
views usually in short, detached sentences, sometimes not at
all, but when he did, hitting the exact point, and diffusing
additional light on the principles in question. When
appointed to deliver the opinion, he generally made an
examination of the authorities, and sometimes, it must be
admitted, much too brief an examination. His habit then
was to think chiefly without the aid of his pen, and out
of the reach of books. He did this in his chamber, on
the street, at the table; soraetimes, it is feared, on the bench,
during the progress of other causes, and not infrequently in
the public roora of the hotel. Persons who approached hira
on these occasions were struck with, and sometiraes offended
at, his abstracted and careless air. To those who knew
what he was doing, he frequently complained of his difficulty
in determining on what principles to pitch the cause, without
mentioning it particularly. He did all the labor of thought
before he commenced to write, and he never wrote until he
was ready. Before he began, it is believed, the very sen
tences were formed in his mind, and when he assumed
the pen, he rarely laid it aside until the opinion had been
completed. The bold, beautiful, and legible character of his

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 151
hand-writing, and its freedom from erasure, induced those
obliged to read his opinions in manuscript, to suppose that
he transcribed them, but this was very rarely, if ever
done; he had too little tirae, and too much horror of the
pen, to attempt it. Such a method of writing undoubtedly
possessed great advantages. It gave his fine logical powers
full play. It contributed to that condensation which forms
one of the distinctive features of his writings. It enabled
him to proceed with directness right to his conclusion, and
to make everything point to it from the first sentence to
the last. No repetition occurs. We see each idea but once,
and need not count on seeing even the shadow of it, more
than once. Having always something to do ahead, the pen
spent no more time on the thought in hand than was
necessary to complete it. He knew precisely where he was
to end before beginning, and he avoided all the difficulties
of those writers who begin to write when they begin to
think, and sometimes before it, and who produce works
resembling, for the most part, the patch-work emblazoned
on the best beds of German housekeepers, and giving evi
dence not to be mistaken, of the exact places at which they
have been joined, and of the diverse and heterogeneous
materials out of which they have been coraposed. The raost
casual reader of Judge Gibson's opinions raust have observed
how seldora he professes to give any history of the decided
cases, frora the creation of the world, from the reign of
Richard I, or from the assumption of the reins of jus
tice by Chief Justice McKean; and how invariably he puts
the decision upon some leading principle of the law,
referring but to a few cases for the purpose of illustration,
or to show their exception to the general rule, and how
all this is done with the ease and skill which betokens the
hand of a master.

152 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
It must be conceded that rich, powerful, and even grace
ful as his style was, it had its defects. In common with
Dr. Chalmers he betrayed an unfortunate proneness to the
use of long and unusual words, generally of Latin origin. I
am not sure that the great Scotch divine would ever have
condescended to say desire when he could with a show of
propriety have said desiderate. So we frequently have Judge
Gibson employing the terms unilateral, individuate, manipulat
ing the testiraony, immiscible as water and oil, convergen
intent, etc., etc.* There was also an unnatural stateliness and
dignity in his style. Many of his sentences seem so con
structed that if placed on a pivot they would remain in per
petual equipoise. Of all this species of writing, the Rambler
and the Idler are the well known models, and I suppose
there can be little doubt that at sorae period of his life
those works had raade an impression on him. I strongly sus
pect, however, that the prose writings of Milton had made a
deeper and better impression. But his style had another
defect, it might have unfolded his meaning more rapidly.
To any one thoroughly versed in the subject of his opinion,
or to any one who would take the trouble to read it twice
or thrice, the import of every word or syllable was clear.
But this is not enough, for more than one-half of his read
ers have not such knowledge or time at their command. It
is not sufficient that the language of a writer when put to
the torture, can be made to yield but one meaning, it should
suggest that meaning at once. Other writings do this, and
all should do it. Those of Calvin and Owen, of Tillotson
and Doddridge, of Hamilton and Calhoun do it, in different
departments, in different ways, and on subjects as difficult as
ever employed human pen. I know of nothing in judicial
* Some of these words are now in common use.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 153
station which dispenses its occupant from a like duty. Men
are generally not compelled to write, but when they do, it
should be borne in raind that one object of writing is to be
read ; sometimes, by absolute necessity, to be read rapidly, and
always with the loss of as little time as possible. It must
be owned that Judge Gibson did not always reraeraber this,
or if he did, that he could not command the tirae to put it
into practice. But when this has been said the worst has
been said that can be urged in the way of abateraent from
his eulogy as a judicial writer. In whatever he uttered on
any subject he had a meaning, and a very precise and defi
nite meaning, which few raen could have expressed in smaller
space.* His words were not used to conceal or to dress up
and trick out ideas too poor and mean to be presented sim
ply and naturally. The thoughts themselves were great
thoughts, struggling to raake theraselves felt through words,
which, however well chosen, but obstructed them, and which
were used at all only because better could not then be
found. The reserablance which his writings thus assumed
to the best productions on the philosophy of the mind, has
frequently induced the charge that he was a metaphysical
writer. If by this is meant that he was confused or obscure,
nothing is further from the truth. Any man who could
establish such an accusation against the works of Locke,
Reid or Thomas Brown, would be a most successful slan
derer. In itself metaphysical science is abstruse enough; the
principles on which it rests have been refined to the purity
of gold; but in the statement of thera, precision and
*"Crabbe's Synonymes'' was Judge Gibson's vade m,ecum. His well pre
served copy of this work, Eng. Ed., 1818, is in the possession of the writer, and
we have looked in vain through it for marginal notes. He handled books care
fully, and at all times the shelves of his library and table presented a neat
appearance. His faculty of order must have been well developed.
20

154 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
strength have been attained, unsurpassed in any department
of literature. These are the great qualities of a judicial
style. Of all other men, a judge ought to be able to state
the very point of bis decision, and so to express it that
human ingenuity cannot make it convey raore or less than
he intended it should. The tirae of every court is chiefiy
occupied by efforts to include, under a principle previously
proraulged, cases which it was never intended to cover,
and to exclude frora its operation those which have occurred
frora its literal and faithful observance. Few greater evils
therefore can arise than those which result frora the obscure
and arabiguous expression of judicial deterrainations. Frora
such defects the decisions of Judge Gibson are exempt to a
degree which make them models. So skillfully are his
words adapted to his thoughts, that his writings can be
made to convey just what his language expresses, and nothing
else. On the other hand, his metaphysics were as little
adapted to the splitting of hairs "'twixt south and south
west side," or between any other points of the compass.
Though his reasoning is often refined, his conclusions are
satisfactory, clear, and fitted to work in the practical con
cerns of life without friction or damage. I ara familiar
with no writings to which they bear an exact resemblance.
He was in the end almost as unlike Johnson as unlike
Addison. He was as far from Carlyle as from Irving.
The class whom he most resembled were doubtless, as I
have intimated, those on the philosophy of the mind. He
had less subtlety than many of these writers, but as much
of it as any other judge, unless Lord Eldon be the excep
tion. He had points in common with the great author of
the "Analogy," but he must be admitted unequal to hira in
the power of treating a raoral theme with so much of the

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 155
exactness and conclusiveness which belong to demonstrative
reasoning. He never wrote so agreeably as Dugald Stewart,
but with decidedly more power. The style of President
Edwards, whether for philosophic or judicial disquisition, can
not, in my estimation, be corapared to that of Judge Gib
son. Every student of the " Treatise on the Will " has
observed how frequently the finest distinction and the pro
foundest reflections are there conveyed with a carelessness of
expression to be found only in the raost ordinary literary
composition. If asked to name an author of note whom he
raost reserabled, I would unhesitatingly say John Foster.
He certainly had less credulity than that eminent writer,
less brilliance of imagination, and quite as slight a dash of
poetry in his nature, or no opportunity to show it. Both
were alike addicted to the use of words which suited them,
whencesoever derived, and were as little afraid of involved
and parenthetical sentences. Both exhibited the same depth
of thought, the sarae power of condensation, and the sarae
facility of illustration from unusual sources. I incline to
think, however, that in classic beauty, in strength and bold
ness of illustration, and in opulence of language, Gibson was
more than his match. Having already quoted largely frora
the writings of the latter, it would be unnecessarily burden
some to quote more. The test may be applied to any of
his more elaborate written judgments. If the space justified,
it would be easy to gather from the Eclectic Review, and
from the other publications which gained to Foster his
world-wide fame, sufficient proof that, after raaking allow
ance for the difference of subject, the resemblance of these
writings is not iraaginary. I refer, for example, to his
essays on a man's writing memoirs of himself, and on the
application of the epithet romantic; and to his reviews of

156 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Macdiarmid's " British Statesraan," of Franklin's " Correspond
ence," of Fox's "James the Second," etc., etc. It is of course
difficult to make that allowance for the diversity of subject
which has been suggested; but I am sure that the student
of Judge Gibson's writings will see in the performance to
which I have referred, much that will forcibly remind him
of the dead chief. For one, I doubt whether there is any
raan known to our literature who, if he had been discours
ing on the same themes, would have spoken more nearly
like Foster than the subject of this sketch, and great
though this praise would be -regarded by literary men, I
esteem it within those reasonable bounds which a friend
may prescribe to hiraself in a tribute to departed worth.
It is not unusual to hear the wish expressed by learned
men, that Judge Gibson had employed his powers in a
treatise on some topic of the law, fit to perpetuate his fame
raore corapletely than the usual round of judicial duties
could do it. I doubt not that if he could have been
induced to construct such a work, it would have proved
equal to any which our American law authors have yet pro
duced. There would have been nothing in its style to
interest a general professional reader. It would have pos
sessed the hardness and dryness of flint. To consume an
hour of professional leisure, a page of the differential calcu
lus would have been about as serviceable. Its only student
would have been the advocate in search of an authority to
insure the success of his cause, and the judge, anxious to
secure a steady light in threading his path through doubt
or error; these students would have paid to it the profound
est homage of their understandings. But the wish is a
vain one. There probably never was a day in his life when
he could have been prevailed on to undertake such a work.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 157
If attempted, it would have died out before the close of
the first chapter. The concurrent testimony of those who
knew raost of his habits is, that he never wrote except
under the pressure of absolute necessity. It seemed to
require this to bring his powers to the pitch at which
alone they could work satisfactorily to hiraself. When the
tirae came for the delivery of the opinion, he wrote it, and
we have seen how he wrote it. On a work whose comple
tion depended on his own volition, he would have been as
little capable of severe toil as any writer equally able
whose narae is known to the- reader.
As a jurist, Judge Gibson was ardently attached to the
principles of the comraon law. His love of thera bearas in
his writings, as affection will beam in the huraan counte
nance. He not only looked on them with the admiration of
an artist, as symmetrical and beautiful parts of a great fab
ric, but he regarded thera as the best rarapart which the
coramon sense of mankind has yet thrown up against the
despotism of the king or the judge, of the purse or the
sword. We shall see hereafter that the last thing he ever
wrote for publication was a declaration of his unshaken loy
alty to the doctrines of the common law. A part of the lan
guage which he applied to Judge Kennedy (4 Barr, 6) might
as justly have been uttered of himself; for like Byron in
many of his characters, he was probably describing himself
without seeing that the world would recognize the portrait.
"He clung to the coraraon law as a child to its nurse,
and how much he drew from it may be seen in his opin
ions, which, by their elaborate minuteness, remind us of the
over-fullness of Coke." The chief justice was also an
admirer of our Pennsylvania system of law, in which the
substantial principles of equity are applied under the forms

158 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
of the coramon law. The wonder is that in any case they
should have been separated. To appoint one judge to exe
cute the law and another to do equity, seems like creating
one raan all head and another all heart. To execute the
law upon a suitor's person or property, and to allow hira
in the meantime to apply to a court of equity for relief, or
to turn him out of the latter because his case has no
equity in it, with the assurance that he will have no diffi
culty in recovering in a court of law ; in other words, to
permit two different rules of legal duty on the same sub
ject to press on the same raan at the sarae time, is a
state of things which the mass of mankind will never
understand, if each individual man should rival the patri
archs in the term of his natural life. From the day when
Lord Erskine uttered his quiet humor on the subject down
to the publication of " Bleak House," the severest sarcasms on
this state of things have been flung into the faces of law
yers without the possibility of turning the point of one of
thera. The Pennsylvania .systera of law is araong the few
that have been raeasurably free from the reproaches which
the learned and the unlearned have thus conspired to hurl
at the whole science. It is natural that the mind of a
raan like Judge Gibson, who had done so much to advance
this system, and who had witnessed the strides which the
legal world seems making towards it, should feel sorae
pride in perpetuating it. With this spirit, it is consistent
that when our legislature adopted certain equity reraedies,
and provided certain equity proceedings, he should endeavor
to carry thera fairly into practice. An opposite course, if
he could have pursued it, would have caused disquiet and
disaster. Besides this, whatever he might have thought, he
was not a man to set himself up against what seemed to

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 159
be useful reform. He had seen defects which sorae of
these remedies seemed to supply, and he applied thera in
the very spirit in which the profession and the legislature
had called them into being. So successfully was this done,
that, with all his attachment to the common law, it has not
been unfrequent to hear from those raost devoted to the
equity system the adraission that he would have raade a
better chancellor than he was a judge. It is pertinent to
remark here, that he had no undue fondness for the civil
law. His raind was too liberal, for the mind of a scholar
is always liberal in its appreciation of learning, not to
admire the beauty, wisdom and siraplicity of many parts of
that system, and its adaptation to the state of society in
which it has grown up; but it must be admitted that he
ever and anon cast a suspicious glance on the efforts of
Judge Story, and the writers of that school, to infuse its
principles into our cherished coramon law. He could not
have denied that many of the branches of our law have
been enriched in this mode, but he was alive to the
danger of pushing such improvements too far. I need refer
the reader only to the opinion delivered in Dyle vs. Richards,
9 S. & R., 322, and in Logan vs. Mason, 6 W. & S., 9,
in proof of the existence of these views in the mind of
their author.
Let me here ask whether any one can fail to perceive
the effect which the presence on the bench of such intellect
as I have been describing must exert on the bar. Doubt
less, in this respect, they act and re-act on each other, but
I speak only of the effect of the bench on the bar. I sup
pose that a display of the highest forensic ability before a
tribunal incompetent to appreciate it, would be next to
impossible. The chief stimulus for preparation would be

160 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
wanting; and truth, however sound, would fall powerless.
The raore cultivated men are, the more conscious they are
of their own defects, and the more tolerant of the faults of
others; and of this a speaker seldora loses his conscious
ness. The best orator, as a matter of choice, would probably
select the raost intellectual and refined audience. One of an
opposite kind would be little better than an empty apart
ment. The oration of Demosthenes could not have been
delivered in an age less intellectual than that which wit
nessed them, and some proof of this is, they never were
delivered in any other age. Before others than kings and
warriors grappling with questions of life and death, Nestor
himself would have been nobody; and I cannot, at this
moment, recall an instance throughout the entire poem in
which he is introduced in any other company. Eloquent
speeches to an ignorant jury prove nothing to the contrary,
for in such instances they are generally brought out by the
presence of the bar and the bench. These speculations
raight be carried further. I only meant to say, that a bar
which aims at the highest standard of excellence, cannot
tell what priceless treasures it possesses in a high order of
intellect to those who are to decide upon its efforts. If
the raere adrainistration of justice were altogether nothing,
the profession would be the gainer by keeping the bench at
the highest pitch of intellectual power.
In summing up the personal character of Judge Gibson,
I do not mean to represent him as faultless, for then he had
been more than human. Doubtless he had his defects;
whatever they may have been, I do not propose to discuss
them. To do so would be to imitate the conduct of some
visitor to a gallery of art, who should employ hiraself in
tracing rough images in the dust of the floor instead of

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 161
contemplating the beautiful conceptions of genius on all sides
around him and above hira. I speak rather of what Judge
Gibson was than of what he was not. His case has been
removed to that great appellate court, which, while it
administers perfect justice, is governed also by perfect
mercy. Jurisdiction having vested there, on the soundest
principles of jurisprudence, no allegation should be permitted
against him here. He certainly had small faults, which to
small eyes were large enough to shut out any perception of
his great qualities. He despised the anise and the cumin,
and necessarily lost the respect of those valuable raembers
of the state, outside and inside of the bar, who do the least
important things first, and the most iraportant last. Frank,
generous and confiding, he spoke on the bench and else
where, of persons and of things, with that irapulse which
none but an honest heart can know; and in doing so he
occasionally lost in dignity as rauch as he gained in the
pleasure of giving expression to his real sentiments in his
own way. If, as a presiding officer, he had preserved order
more rigidly, his court would have been a more solemn
place, and if he had attended more directly to what was
passing before him, the business would have been raore effi
ciently dispatched.* But enough of what he was not. The
* These observations of Judge Porter's justify an explanation of a charac
teristic of the Gibson mind, strikingly illustrated in Judge Gibson personally.
Simply to say that he was " absent-minded," which he certainly was in a marked
degree, would convey a false impression to many. Absent-mindedness is gener
ally conceded to be indicative of mental weakness. Those afflicted with it are
constantly mistaking their right for their left hand, or doing other equally
absurd things. Their minds, in fact, are absent, or chronically " star gazing" or
" wool gathering." This is their normal condition, and persons so affiicted can
never be relied upon in emergencies. But a distinction should be drawn between
the so-called absent and the abstracted mind (the dictionary does not do this, how
ever). Sometimes the mind, which concentrates itself upon one subject, takes no
note of the presence of persons or what they may be doing or saying, except so far
21

]62 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON,
qualities which he possessed were striking and peculiar.
That which raost irapressed those who knew him best was
the exceeding kindness of his heart. The knowledge of
this was a key to his character. Any newspaper editor or
legislative orator who had abused him might have approached
him with the profoundest confidence, not only that he had
forgiven, but actually forgotten, any calumny, however gross.
In that respect, at least, no man could have reduced to
practice more directly the morality of the New Testament.
He cherished no antipathies, and formed no prejudices, and
this constituted one of his chief excellencies as a judicial
magistrate. Few lawyers would hesitate between preseqting
a cause before a judge who had been purchased to do
wrong, and one blinded by prejudice towards a party, or
the subject in dispute, or the principle which it involved.
The former might be restrained by the fear of detection or
the consciousness of guilt, or he might by the force of
arguraent, and by the plainness of the matter, be hemmed
in and shut up to decide the right. Not so the latter. His
eyeballs are seared; molten lead has been poured into his
ears; he sees only his own foregone conclusions; he hears
only the voice of his own stubborn will ; and it were as
reasonable to expect just perceptions from the dead. One
of these characters is totally unknown in our American
courts, but, alas for the weakness of human nature, the other
is probably not without its types. Both the official and
as what they say or do chords mentally with the tone whose sound smothers all
other tones in the thinker's mind. This is concentration with abstraction of
mind. The annoying results of this form of absent-mindedness are felt when this
habit of preoccupation of mind is permitted on the streets or in social gatherings,
for then faces pass by unseen, and names are heard to be instantly forgotten.
These observations are pertinent, also, to Judge Porter's remarks referring to
the off"ense created by Judge Gibson's occasional " abstracted and careless air."
See page 150.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 163
the personal intercourse of Judge Gibson was eminently free
from such blemishes. He neither hated nor suspected. In
every relation, public and private, he displayed that charity
of the heart which makes a man a gentleman despite of
early associations, and even of bad manners. In the liveliest
sallies of his wit and humor, the last acts on which benevo
lence exerts its restraining influence, he never allowed him
self to trench on the sensibilities of others. When he said
anything from the bench approaching severity, as he some
times did when worn down by a dull and tedious argu
ment, no time was lost in trying, by a remark of a different
kind, to wear away its effect both on the speaker and the
audience. He was a sound critic in the best sense of the
term, and when a harsh observation was made of one whom
he knew, he was generally able to relieve its effect by point
ing out sorae excellence which had escaped the attention of
others. To the young, and especially to those who were
endeavoring to become the architects of their own fortunes,
he was kind, affable and indulgent. But the picture requires
high coloring. There was something in his magnanimity, in
his forgiving teraper, in his kindly charity, in his capacity
to appreciate excellence of any kind, in any forra, which
despite his apparent unconcern of manner and sluggishness
of body, elicited and compelled affection. There was a true
fire of the heart which glowed unceasingly, and cast even
the splendor of his intellect into the shade. No man ever
more cordially despised a cold, calculating spider-like lawyer,
weaving day by day his miserable toils, giving up nothing,
retaining his grasp on every victim of chance and folly, and
employing his powers only for the production of misery and
the practice of oppression. No man ever spoke into being,
with so little effort, ardent and permanent friendship. He

164

JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.

sat on the supreme bench with twenty-six different judges,
none of whom, except Judge Duncan, owed their position to
his influence, and almost all of whom, on their accession,
were comparative strangers to him, and yet it may be
doubted whether the purest and happiest household ever
lived iff raore absolute harmony than he enjoyed in his per
sonal intercourse with his associates. In regard to any
body of men long associated together, this fact might be
worth repeating; but in that of so many independent men,
of strong intellects and wills, employed together in the
daily examination of exciting questions, where conscience and
duty required each man to stand by his individual judg
ment, the case is somewhat remarkable. It is quite appar
ent that in the acceptance of the comraission from
Governor Ritner, it was the eagerness of his associates and
friends to promote his welfare, and to sraooth his declining
years, that, for the moment, threw his judgment frora her
balance. His noraination in 1851 was a better directed
effort of the same kind. There were in the judicial con
vention of that year, without his knowledge, more than a
score of delegates whose chief business was his renomina
tion. If they had been bone of his bone, they could not
have been more anxious for the result. Less friendly exer
tion in his behalf, and two less votes than the number he
received, would have lost to the State the remainder of his
life.* His intellectual acquirements were great, and he had a
right to be proud of thera ; but that would be a poor
monument to his fame which should omit to mention those
higher and finer qualities of the heart, which placed him

* Judge Porter himself and the late Chief Justice Mercur cast the " two
votes." See note elsewhere.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 165
SO far above the level of ordinary raen. Take the follow
ing instance of their exercise. During a hot and laborious
session of the Supreme Court, at Harrisburg in 1843, the
idea occurred to Judge Gibson and Judge Rogers, to
place a marble slab over the remains of Joseph Jefferson,
the actor, which, from 1832, had lain in a churchyard in
that town, with nothing to mark their resting place.
¦ The former applied to Mr. Wm. B. Wood, one of the
contemporaries of Jefferson, for sorae information necessary
in framing an epitaph. [See Appendix.] The informa
tion was furnished, the epitaph was written, the slab was
laid, and the facts were, during the present year, thirteen
years after the occurrence, communicated to the public
by Mr. Wood in his " Recollections of the Stage." Here
was the case of a poor actor, who, as the epitaph states,
had closed his career " in calamity and affliction," and, as
it appears, without one other monument to record his
genius than that which was thus erected. The act was
done kindly and quietly, without ostentation, without news
paper notice, and in such a manner as not to connect with
it the names of its authors. Men may differ about the
propriety of erecting a monument to the meraory of Mr.
Jefferson, but I should be glad to know whether any man
would have done it but one who had strong sympathies
with huraan nature. " I knew him well, Horatio," the
epitaph concludes, " a fellow of infinite jest, and raost ex
cellent fancy." This was the motive, and the only motive,
except the pleasure of doing a good act without making
parade or exciting suspicion. Mr. Wood justly adds, that
Chief Justice Gibson's sensibilities and taste in the whole
range of the fine arts, music, architecture, painting, statuary,
and the drama, were hardly inferior to his uncommon in-

166 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
tellectual parts ; and the author, if it had fallen in his
way, raight have said what I reserved to this place — in
that geology,* chemistry and medicine. Judge Gibson's
knowledge was probably raore extensive and complete than
that of any meraber of the legal profession who survives
hira. It was almost unnecessary to speak of him as a man
of integrity. I verily believe that the mere force of habit
in seeking the truth and finding reasons to support it,
would have driven him to the right against every corrupt
influence that could have been brought to bear upon him.
But the truth is, no idea opposite to that of his utmost
purity as a judge, was ever associated with his name.
There was something in his character, conversation, manner
* This reference to geology reminds the writer that he once, several years
ago, came across an extended article on the geology of Niagara Falls and the
lake region, by Judge Gibson. It was contained in a bound volume of pamphlets
in the library of the late G. L. B. Fetterman, Esq., of Pittsburgh. It had orig
inally been published in Philadelphia in some magazine of which, if the writer
is not mistaken. Prof. Silliman was the editor ; the date was about 1 835. The
article was prefaced by a rather depreciatory editorial note, the editor evidently
seeking to shirk the responsibility of entertaining the views, as he expressed it,
of "his friend," who while he might be learned in other departments, was liable
to err in the fields of science, where he had no right to stray. No name being
mentioned, it appeared to be an anonymous production. At the time of finding
this article the writer was specially interested in the geology of the lake region,
of which much was then known, the result of government surveys, etc. " What
amusing vaporings concerning the geology of the lake region must have existed
in 1835 ;" and with this refiection we began reading the supposed anonymous
article. Having read a few pages in which the author had well opened his sub
ject, and enunciated clear conceptions of the principles of the science in which
he dealt, we turned back to make sure that the date was 1836. There was no
mistake as to that. Farther along we were struck with the acuteness of his ob
servations, and all through with his conciseness and agreeable style. " Who was
this," we kept constantly thinking, "editorially suppressed American Hugh Mil
ler?" " Silliman surely was mistaken, or did not know his friend was far in
advance of his times." Thus we read on to the close with interest and consid
erable profit, but if ever a grandson was not only surprised but gratified, the
writer was, when at the end there appeared the signature, J. B. Gibson.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 167
and appearance, which would have crushed such a thought
in the bud. A man who had approached him for the
purpose of corrupting hira, would have been as much dis
posed to fall down before him in an act of homage as to
have attempted to carry out his purpose. After a lifetime
devoted to the service of his country, it is surely no mean
praise of a public man, that declarations like these can be
uttered, with the certainty that they will be credited, not
less by the suitors against whom he decided, than by the
profession who practiced before him, and the community
whose laws he enforced.
There was another feature in his character, which is,
though it should not be, worthy of passing notice. I refer
to his delicate sense of pecuniary obligation. He remained
at the bar for too short a period, if he had been actively
employed, to accumulate property. Of the smallness of his
salary, during his entire judicial term, the reader is prob
ably aware.* His hospitality through life was so generous
* His highest salary was $2,000 per annum, with per diem expenses in addi
tion to this sum, making his salary equivalent to about |2,500 per annum. Judge
Porter might have added, " an honest man is the noblest work of God." But
while such virtue is possessed, no doubt, by many individuals, it is so concealed
as to be seldom appreciated among the living. Nevertheless it is a pleasure to
have the fact of its existence demonstrated in our honored dead. Judge Black
so spoke of Gibson's character in this respect in his eulogy that it may be per
missible, by way of illustration, to quote a paragraph from a letter of Judge
Gibson to his wife, written not long before his death. He says : " I have not
sent you back the tax paper, as it seems to be according to the return I have
made to the assessors ; but it has increased my tax fearfully. It is better, how
ever, to deal fairly in these matters." Another to him, from the celebrated Dr. J.
T. Sharpless, of Philadelphia, dated May 15, 1844, covers another point referred
to by Judge Porter :
"My friend, the Chief Justice, has been rather ahead of the time in paying
a bill before it was sent, but it is only in accordance with everything I have had
the pleasure to know of him, and I give him my thanks for that, in addition to
the thousand obligations heretofore received from him. If all men were such,
this would be a delightful world to live in, and the practice of medicine, instead
of being a thorny path, would be a garden of flowers."

168 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
as to be universally remarked by his friends ; and in
respect to all appliances of domestic comfort, his views
partook of the liberality of a man of fortune. Notwith
standing this, it is believed that he was never known to
borrow money, or contract an obligation which he did not
promptly discharge. At his death he bequeathed for the
support of his family no inconsiderable sura, produced
chiefly by the rise of sraall investments which had been
made from tirae to time. He had evidently studied on
principle, and studied successfully, the art of living on his
means, however small, and by living very comfortably on
his raeans. The case contrasts strongly with that of sorae
of our distinguished public characters. Men who would
have resented indignantly an imputation on their integrity,
have displayed in this respect a recklessness of conduct
which ought to be humiliating to the nation. For the
sake of the public morals, the facts can be referred to
only in the general, but instances have not been rare in
which public men, by contracting debts which they never
intended to discharge, and accepting loans of money which
they never intended to repay, have been content to live
upon the charity of those whose interests their public sta
tions required thera to act, an evil bad enough anywhere,
and one which would be intolerable in those whose duty
it is to urge, on every moral ground, and to enforce by
every legal means, performance of the obligations of others.
I hasten to a close. In Bash vs. Sommer, 8 Harris,
159, Judge Gibson delivered his last reported opinion,
which, singularly enough, was the affirmance of a judgraent
pronounced by the judge who was to be his successor. In
the March nuraber of the Araerican Law Register for
1853, he published his last essay, in a review of Mr.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 169

Troubat's work on Limited Partnership. It is a compact
and elegant specimen of that kind of writing, and will
repay perusal. I quote frora it the following passage, both
for the sake of the subject and the light which it reflects
on the taste of the author : " Of all legal mechanism,
statutory mechanism is the most imperfect; and this is one
of the strongest objections to Araerican codification. It is
always adapted to the circurastances of a single case in
the mind's eye of the constructor; and when it is required
to work on any other, it works badly or not at all. A
legislator who has but one model, is like a shoemaker
who has but one last. It is this propensity to generalize
that leads to perpetual tinkering at the statutes, till they
are at last a wretched piece of unintelligible patchwork.
This would be prevented by not attempting to do too much,
and leaving the rest to the courts. The writer of this
article is not a champion of the civil law, nor does he
profess to have more than superficial knowledge of it. He
was bred in the school of Littleton and Coke, and he
would be sorry to see any but coramon law doctrines
taught in it. Water and oil would as readily coalesce, as
the technicalities of our law of real property and the sim
plicity of the Rornan law. The principles of the latter
require adaptation to the English law of contracts and per
sonal property ; but it cannot be denied that when they
were adapted to it they enriched it. In France, Italy,
Germany, Spain, Scotland, where the Roman law is the
basis of the municipal .law, it required adaptation to the
habitudes of the people; but the English Law Merchant
— ^an unperishable monument of Lord Mansfield's fame —
shows what a magnificent structure may be raised upon it,
where the ground is not preoccupied."
22

170 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
I have said this was his last published essay. The
soundness of the great physical and mental machine which
had performed its office for so many years was beginning
to be affected. While the intellectual fire burned with
brightness, the body was yielding to the consuming touch of
time, and the pressure of sorae hidden malady. Early in
the spring of 1853* his step became evidently less firm,
and his face more haggard. Business began to lose its
exeitement, and society its charm. The inquiries of acquaint
ances became more frequent, and the friends who were
nearest his heart began to draw more closely to hira. In a
short time it became necessary to summon about him the
immediate merabers of his faraily. All that human sympa
thy and affection have in them to assuage, and all that
professional skill and care have in them to alleviate, were
vainly exerted to the verge of their power. The silver
thread had been spun to its end, and without a murmur or
a pain, he gently slept in death. He died in Philadelphia
on the third day of May, 1853, in the seventy- third year
of his age.
I have probably no more inforraation than the reader, of
Judge Gibson's views on that vital subject before which the
splendors of human achievement die out in insignificance.
He was not a man to say much on such a topic. It is
known that he was attached to the doctrines of the Epis
copal Church. During his residence in Wilkesbarre, and
afterwards in Carlisle, he acted as an officer in that insti
tution, and attended on its worship with regularity. A

* Judge Porter seems to have been unaware of the fact that Judge Gibson
suff'ered an attack of cholera in the summer of 1852, whilst at Sunbury, Pa., and
from the effects of which he never wholly recovered. His case was so critical at
that time that his family was summoned from Carlisle to his bedside.

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 171
friend with whom he generally sat ' in attending church in
Philadelphia, testifies to the emotion which he frequently
evinced under the preaching of the gospel. On the death
of a raost estimable lady, at whose house he had been a
frequent visitor, he observed in a letter to her son that her
vast superiority in intellectual force surprised him less than
her unostentatious and orthodox piety pleased him; and
adds: "the testimony of a raind so competent to investigate
and to judge, overbears, in my opinion, all the cavils of the
philosophers." His belief in revealed religion is thus joined
to that of all the raore eraiuent men of the present cen
tury.* The rest is a question between himself and his final
Judge. With it let not the stranger intermeddle. It is
enough to hope, that when he laid aside the distinctions of
earth he appeared in the spotless robe of imputed righteous
ness, a guest at the marriage supper,
I have thus concluded the observations I proposed to
make on the life of Chief Justice Gibson. No succinct
and general suraraary of his intellectual qualities has been
attempted, for that has been already executed in a manner
which renders any similar effort unnecessary and undesirable.f
I cannot hope that the reader ¦ has coincided in all the
conclusions I have thus presented, or in the mode of
reaching them. He may know other facts, or entertain dif
ferent views of those which have been stated, or he may
have preferred other selections from Judge Gibson's writings.
In that event, I remind him that I have been communi-
* Judge Gibson once remarked to the eff'ect that if it were ordered by the
Creator, that concerning the divinity of Christianity it was to be left to be tried
before a human court of last resort, he believed that applying the rules of law to
the evidence concerning it, already known to us, its truth would, no doubt, be
demonstrated. 1 7 Harris, 10, Judge Black's Eulogy.

172 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
eating my own sentiments, not his; and the truth is best
attained by the free and temperate expression of individual
thought. As an excuse for all that has been written, I
remind him further of what, if an attentive reader of his
tory, he must have before observed — how much more fre
quently the historian is obliged to rely for his authority on
the fugitive publications of the day in which he writes, and
especially on those of a biographical kind, than on the
more elaborate treatises of preceding authors. Indeed, the
former are the chief means of correcting the errors or mis
statements into which the writers of history, beyond all
other men, are liable to betrayal. It seems probable that
Pennsylvania will some day have a history, and somebody
to write it. Considering the character of her early settle
ments, the size of her territory, her position in the Union,
her exemption, on the one hand, from slavery, and on the
other, from fanaticism in politics and infidelity in religion,
the physical and moral character of her people, her progress
in the useful arts, and the extent to which the advantages
of education are being carried by her direct action as a
State; and comparing her with the ancient republics, with
Switzerland, with Scotland, or with England, there seems no
reason to doubt that she is capable of reaching as high an
elevation as any free State which has preceded her in the
march of nations. In the history that shall mark her rise
and progress, the course of her jurisprudence will form an
important topic; for in a free state, more than any other,
the bench is the great bulwark of civil liberty. In such a
work the name of Judge Gibson must appear. For more
than forty years his influence on that jurisprudence was
such, and the juncture which that period formed in the his
tory of our laws was such, and the character of his indi-

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 173
vidual opinions was such, that no historical writer of raere
taste, whatever his own opinions or prejudices, could omit
his name and labors, unless resolutely bent on suppressing
the truth. All this belongs to the future. For the present,
I have simply strewn along the road a few facts and con
siderations, happy if at any time they may be found to serve
this or any other useful purpose.

JUDGE BLACK'S NOTICE OF PORTER'S ESSAY.
A copy of Judge Porter's " Essay on the life, charac
ter and writings of John B. Gibson, LL. D., " reached
the hands of Thomas J. Keenan, Esq., then, and for some
years afterwards, editor of the Pittsburgh Legal Journal.
Mr. Keenan happening to mention the fact to Chief Jus
tice Black, who was in the city at that time, the Judge
requested the privilege of writing a notice of it for the
Journal. While highly laudatory of both Gibson and his
biographer, the paper is characteristic of its powerful and
profound author. We see him here wearing the editorial
disguise, and in the character of the peaceful critic; but
as he moves along, the clang, clang, of the weapons of a
great judicial warrior are distinctly heard beneath the
scanty covering. From the Pittsburgh Legal Journal, 1855.
" Undoubtedly Gibson was the judge whose reputation
overshadows all others. His great intellectual superiority
gives him a prominence among men of his class, which
it is not likely will be attained by anybody else for cen
turies to come, while his unblemished integrity, the sim-

174 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
plicity of his character and the kindness of his heart,
have won for him a fervor of affection which is seldom
bestowed on any public man.
When he first came on the bench, he was scarcely
prepared for his mission. Those who came with hira and
after him, were as thoroughly furnished as they could be
for the work they had to do. But when his powers un
folded themselves, all saw so plainly that no man who sat
with hira afterwards could pretend to be his equal, with
out becoming ridiculous. Competition gave up the contest,
and rivalry itself conceded to him an undisputed pre-emi
nence. In saying this, we hope we are free from the
slightest disposition to depreciate his associates. Most of
them have fairly earned a high character and are justly
entitled to their share of distinction. We detract nothing
from them when we give his dues to hira. They had
their virtues and their talents, but when we say that he
was their chief, we raean the word in a sense which can
never be applied so fitly to another.
' He, above all the rest.
In shape and gesture proudly eminent.
Stood like a tower.'
The Grecian raythology tells us that in old days there
were giants, very large indeed, when corapared with ordi
nary raortals, but sraall, nevertheless, when they came to be
measured by the king of the Titans.
Of such a character, it is fit that the dignity should be
vindicated and the value made known. The State can
have no better thing to be proud of. In all her store she
has no richer jewel to display than the fame of such a
son. Mr. Porter has performed this duty in a manner which
entitles him to the thanks of every citizen. He brings

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 175
to the task a raind deeply impressed with a sense of Gib
son's immense intellectual strength. He has examined and
analyzed his opinions with great care and much critical
skill. His personal habits, modes of thought, and style of
expression, are described and illustrated with the utmost
felicity. There is, besides, a warmth of personal affection
for his subject pervading the whole book which infinitely
heightens the interest of the reader. Yet this essay is not
an eulogy. The author felt the full force of his obliga
tion to speak no more than the truth. He evidently
blames with regret, but he tempers his praise wherever
justice requires him to do so.
We think we have detected sorae slight inaccuracies in
Mr. Porter's book. For instance, Mr. Gibson's marriage
(page 43) is said to have taken place on the 12th of Oc
tober, 1812, and his appointment as judge of the eleventh
district on the 16th of July, 1813. He was married after
he became judge of the common pleas. We make this
statement on authority which does not permit us to doubt
it. This is very unimportant, to be sure; but there is a
graver mistake on page 83, where the writer suffers his
Philadelphia education to get the better of him, so far as
to endorse a sneer at Judge Gibson's remark in Logan vs.
Mason, 6 W. & S., 12, on the Land Law of Pennsylva
nia. Gibson bad called it ' a beautiful system founded on
principles of general equity.' But the practitioners in the
metropolis thought it ' a budget of augers, a collection of
sharp points and short corners, having no pretensions to
form and comeliness ;' and Mr. Porter says it requires
eharity to make one believe that Gibson was right. Now,
we take it upon ourselves to assure Mr. Porter that
the rules upon which original titles to land are determined

176 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
in this State, are as simple and clear as the nature of the
subject will allow. They are perfectly just and equitable,
and they add infinite honor to the wisdora and honesty of
the men by whom they were established. They are as
well systematized, and quite as consistent with one another,
as those which regulate the marine insurance, or the pur
chase and sale of chattels. We say this with some confi
dence and without drawing upon anybody's charity, because
we have the authority of Gibson, and raany others who
understand the matter very well, while Mr. Porter, on the
other hand, admits that ' the practitioners of the metropolis
have almost no acquaintance' with it. We do not expect
our metropolitan friends, or anybody else, to admire that
which they do not understand. We take leave, however,
to suggest that the Land Law may possibly improve in
their opinion upon further acquaintance. At all events,
tbey can then speak upon it with a voice more potential.
Fielding once wrote a long essay, in which he proved that
a person will not be in danger of deciding any question
rauch the raore erroneously for knowing a little about it.
But enough of this. When we began this article,
nothing was further from our thoughts than finding fault
with Mr. Porter's book. We have read it with unmixed
pleasure, and so we are sure will every one else who admires
Judge Gibson's character, and desires to see it discussed
ably and well. We shall only add, as the sura of our
opinions on the whole matter, that the greatest American
judge has found a writer qualified to do his memory jus
tice. Mr. Porter has not convinced us that there is much
resemblance between Gibson and John Foster. Among the
great writers of the English language there is one, and

AS A LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND JUDGE. 177
but one, whose mode of enforcing or defending truth will
make a fair parallel. We omit the name for the present,
simply because we have not time or space to prove it, and
the assertion without the proof would hardly be received."*
* This remark naturally excites curiosity to know of whom Judge Black
was thinking. Under the date of October 12th, 1883, Judge James J. Mitchell,
now on the Supreme Bench, addressed a note of inquiry to Mr. Kee
nan, directed to this point, at the close remarking : " The judgment of so well
read a man in English literature, and himself so great a master of style and lan
guage, is in the highest degree interesting, and I should like to make a memo
randum of it in my copy of Ji^ge Porter's memoirs."
Mr. Keenan answered, suggesting the name of Calhoun, to which Judge
Mitchell replied: "I do not think it was Calhoun that Black referred to ; I rather
infer that it was some great English writer. Since the receipt of your letter I
have had a conversation with Judge Porter, and he told me he had once asked
Black the same question — whom he referred to, and Black said, as he had writ
ten, ' Well, you won't agree with me, and I haven't time to prove it to you, but
some time I will.' "
Upon the receipt of this Mr. Keenan enclosed the correspondence to Lieu
tenant Governor Chauncey F. Black, thinking that he might know to whom his
father referred. A reply came, under date of October 23, 1883, in which the
Lieutenant Governor said, " I am very sorry to say that I am unable even to
guess to whom my father alluded in that passage referred to by you and by Judge
Mitchell." It is therefore probable that Judge Mitchell's question will never be
answered.

23

PART FOURTH.

ARTICLE UPON JUDGE GIBSON, FROJV\ THE MER-
CERSBURG QUARTERLY REVIEW.

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER'S ESSAY.
By the Rev. Joseph Clark.

The following review of Judge Porter's essay on Judge
Gibson is from the January number, 1856, of the Mercers-
burg Quarterly Review. The author signed himself simply
"J. C, Chambersburg, Pa." Throughout his paper, but more
particularly in his scholarly comparison of the methods and
style of John Foster and Judge Gibson, "J. C." displays
a richness and copiousness in his diction with such philo
sophical treatment, in the very school in which Judge Black,
Judge Porter and himself places Judge Gibson, that we
leave him with the regret that he had not attempted the
larger work which he recommends should be undertaken by
the future historian. He seems to have been eminently
qualified for such a task.
With the desire to discover his name, as well, also, to
learn something of his competency, by personal acquaintance
or otherwise, to substantiate the charge he makes against
Judge Gibson, to the effect that he indulged in profanity,

180 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
the writer referred the matter to his friend, the Hon. John
Stewart, of Chambersburg, and received the following reply
to his communication, under date of February 2d, 1887 :
"My belief is that the article referred to was written by
the Eev. Joseph Clark. I can give no other reason for
the belief than that Mr. Clark was a contributor to the
Review, was a gentleman of the highest literary qualifica
tions, and was a resident of Chambersburg. I know of no
one, and I never knew of any one with the initials 'J. C
with the necessary qualifications, who could by any possibility
have contributed the article, excepting Mr. Clark.
"He was a Presbyterian clergyman and died about
1864. I am persuaded that he is the author of the article
in question. As to his opportunities of knowing the traits
and peculiarities of Judge Gibson I know but little. He
came originally from Perry county, and I have always
understood that Perry county was the place of Judge Gib
son's birth. He could hardly have been himself a personal
acquaintance of Judge Gibson, and could not have spoken
from personal knowledge. Most likely he gave evidence to
the popular rumors he heard as a boy in respect to this
matter." In regard to this, the writer thinks from J. C.'s evi
dent familiarity with Judge Gibson's early home, that he
came from Perry county, and was, without doubt, acquainted
with Judge Gibson's oldest brother, Francis, for he corrects
misstateraents of Judge Porter concerning him. Francis
Gibson was known far and wide through those mountains,
whereas Judge Gibson was only an occasional visitor there
after the death of his mother in 1809.
Mr. Clark's paper is presented entire, excepting his more
extensive quotations from Judge Porter's essay, which can be

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER's ESSAY. 181
referred to in the copious selections made from the essay
itself in another part of this Memoir.

In Perry county. Pa., which, until 1820, was a portion
of Cumberland county, on one of the old roads leading most
of the way along the rugged and shady banks of the
Sherman's creek, to Landisburg, one of the oldest settle
ments of the valley, and the first county- seat, is a place
still familiarly known as " Gibson's," because yet occupied
by some of the descendants of the family. It is a quiet,
romantic nook, formed by the curvature of the towering
pine-clad hills, just below a narrow pass which leads out into
the more spacious and fruitful valley which lies to the
west. A small stone mill, which bears the marks of time
and of fire, the ruins of several small out-buildings, a
finger-board pointing in several directions on the roads
leading out through the ravines, and a tolerably comfortable
dwelling, are now the principal artificial features of the
place. A little distance below, an iraraense rock, or pile of
rocks, whose base starts at the edge of the water, towers
high into the air. About fifty feet from its base the road
passes directly through its side, and as the traveler
approaches this cut, and casts a suspicious eye towards the
beetling crag overhanging him far above, and hears the
roaring of the Sherman as it dashes upon the rocks of the
deep gorge below, he will be fortunate if he escapes an
involuntary shudder. This is known far and near as
"Gibson's Rock."
The reader will have already anticipated the purport of
this description. The scene itself is worthy of an artist's
pencil. On a bright summer afternoon, as the sun declines

182 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
to the west, and his beams, flashing on the rippling waters,
catch the eye through the openings in the umbrageous
canopy of leaves, and the huge forms of nature repose in
an almost oppressive silence on every hand, it forms a scene
which would perhaps out-rival many that are more widely
celebrated. But it has a deeper and better interest to the
initiated. It marks the birth-place of one of Pennsylvania's
greatest ornaments, of one who, in the language of a com
petent judge, has been thought, even abroad, to have been
for many years "the great glory of his native State." In
its leading features it resembles the birth-place of James
Buchanan, in the western angle of Franklin county, amid
the same range of mountains, not fifty miles distant, in a
narrow pass known as "the Gap," through which the pack-
horses in "auld lang syne," defiled to "Fort Pitt" and
the " far West." When John Bannister Gibson, who was
destined to wear, with unapproachable success and honor, the
judicial ermine of Pennsylvania, was about leaving his wild
mountain home on the banks of the Sherman, to enter an
already well known classical institution of his native coiinty,
James Buchanan, who, in another sphere, was destined to
gain the honorable distinction of "Pennsylvania's favorite
son," was prattling with the rough packers in " the Gap,"
and strolling (so says an irresponsible tradition), with a
small bell tied round his neck, in the neighboring woods.
When the history of Pennsylvania comes to be written —
and it must be written some day, for her advantageous
position in the Union, her inexhaustible resources, the blended
and sterling character of her population, alike removed by
constitutional bias from the extremes of headlong and
impracticable impetuosity, and phlegmatic stagnation, necessi
tate for her a healthy development, a high position, and a

EEVIEW OP JUDGE PORTER'S ESSAT. 183
commanding influence — when this history comes to be writ
ten, few, if any, names will appear in it with more promi
nence than those of the boy from the valley of the Sherman,
and the bell-boy of the Gap, for the history of a state or
a nation is always inseparable from the history of its great
|TfjiiT| ifc ;f; ^; !(; j|i sp
A great mind is always a subject of study, generally for
admiration. Like Niagara or Vesuvius, its massive grandeur
attracts alike the eye of the divine, the statesman, the poet,
the philosopher, and the man of ordinary practical intelli
gence; or, like the giant elm of centuries amid the smaller
trees of the forest, it is the "observed of all observers,"
whilst weaker creatures find shelter and protection within
the folds of its mighty arms. Living, productive thought,
in any sphere, is a commodity of priceless worth. For these
reasons we offer no apology for introducing a paper upon
Chief Justice Gibson into this periodical. Theologian, or
literary man, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, he
was not; but he was a great intellect, and (which is
nearer the drift of our review) he was in the organic
structure of his mind a great philosopher.
Of the essay by Mr. Porter, we would say here, briefly,
that it is a respectable, but by no means an adequate per
formance. It displays considerable discrimination and accu
racy of criticism, and we think touches truthfully upon the
strong points of its subject's mind and character ; but it is
not exhaustive ; and the selections from his published opin
ions give mere glimpses of the workings of his mind. An
intellect like Judge Gibson's, and a long life of such emi
nence as was awarded him, cannot be disposed of in an
octavo of 140 pages. We agree with Mr. Porter, that it
is remarkable that no more has been written respecting

184 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
him since his death, and we hope that the essay before us
may be the forerunner of a comprehensive and complete
life, embodying an extensive selection from his writings.
True, his mind stands sculptured in monumental grandeur
in his published judicial opinions, running through seventy
volumes of the Pennsylvania State Reports, from 2 Ser-
' geant & Rawle to 7 Harris ; and no detrition of time,
nor heavings and tossings of the political hemisphere, which
shall span at all the fabric of our jurisprudence, will be
able to destroy it as it there stands. But in this form it
will be confined to the offices of lawyers ; whilst we are
persuaded that the Nestor of the bench, " the only chief
whom the hearts of the people would know," even after
he assumed officially a lower position, ought, in his post
humous influence, to be brought nearer to the people them
selves. We are persuaded that a selection might be made
from Justice Gibson's opinions, and other fugitive writings,
which would be read by that portion of all classes and
professions who are accustomed to seek and peruse the
highest productions of the human mind.
One of the most interesting points in the life of Judge
Gibson is the history of the development of his mind.
As there are certain great classes or types of minds which can
be arranged together with almost generic accuracy, so there
are minds which require peculiar occasions for development.
Other minds seem to have a sort of spontaneity of expansion.
They develop from the free working of their own inher
ent powers, without the aid of any extraneous stimuli.
But it is not so with all ; and it often appears doubtful
whether this other class would develop at all, in any meas
ure correspondent with their native capability, without the
stimuli of occasion and circumstance. To this latter class

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER'S ESSAY. 185
the raind of Gibson belonged. His bodily habit was
phlegmatic, and it had its influence upon his mind, and
contributed, doubtless, to the lateness of the mature de-
velopraent of his powers, as well as hazarded their devel
opment upon the accidents of 'occasion.* Although, as Mr.
Porter says, the burning of Dickinson College destroyed all
record of his progress there, yet tradition has preserved
sorae scraps which those who knew hira in after life will
regard as easily credible. He was called notoriously lazy,
and was often almost wholly indifferent about the regular
tasks of the course ; but his classmates well knew that
when he roused hiraself, under the pressure of a special
eraergency, he could surpass thera all. He was, raoreover, the
butt of a good deal of innocent ridicule. He was long-legged,
raw-boned and awkward, and furnished the point to many
a jest, though it is reraerabered that due care was always
exercised, by those who had come to know hira, not to
carry the fun beyond the point of endurance.f At college,
though all the discerning noticed his spasraodic ability, he
was generally regarded as a student who had not much
" outcome " in him. That he was at first alraost wholly
unsuccessful at the bar, raight be inferred from his numer
ous and rapid changes, from Carlisle to Beaver, frora
* Another modern instance of late development is that of Archbishop
Hughes. J. C.
t In his letter to John Wallace (see page 25), Judge Gibson says : " Fox
hunting, fishing, gunning, rifle shooting, swimming, wrestling and boxing with
the natives of my age, were my exercises and my amusements." At college he
must have been six feet or more in height, and with the above mentioned accom
plishments previously acquired, he was not likely to suffer much. It is probably
the fact, however, that at this age he was awkward, and there can be no doubt
that he was a frank, open-hearted young man, of a forgiving nature, of the kind
which meaner spirits can, and often do, impose upon for a long time. He was
the same kind of a man all his life.
24

186 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Beaver to Hagerstown, from Hagerstown back to Carlisle,
all in the space of a little raore than two years. We
fancy that but few young advocates in such circumstances
would not begin to fear that they had missed their call
ing. He had indeed missed his calling, but he was on
the stepping stone to it. He never would have made a
successful advocate. The movements of his mind were not
rapid enough ; he had not patience enough to wade
through the wilderness of dry facts which the thoroughly
furnished attorney must thread; his profound dealing with
the seminal principles of law and justice, had he ever
attaiued to this in the sphere of an advocate, would have
been over the heads of raost juries; he had little or
none of that popular tact for influencing juries, which
raultitudes even of infinitely inferior men possess ; and
above all, the profession of attorney would not have af
forded stimulus, propulsive force enough, to have driven
hira onward in the path of development. He would have
wasted his powers upon inferior pursuits. * ''"
Doubtless Mr. Gibson's legislative career was instrumental
to his first appointment to the bench. Pie now entered a
new sphere, and his true sphere, the aptness of which to
develop his best powers, we shall see by and by. It
requires no effort of the imagination to suppose that the
responsibility of the judgeship resting upon one of his age
(he was not quite 33), who doubtless felt the inadequacy of
his own attainments, would rouse his mind to unwonted
effort, and compel hira not only to think but to study.
How he discharged his duties we do not know. He began,
however, to attract the attention of the eminent in the pro
fession. But tradition is again in character when it reports.

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTEr's ESSAY. 187
that he exhibited " too much impulsiveness in his judg
ments, both of legal affairs and of huraan nature." ¦"
His appointment to the supreme bench as an associate
justice, three years after his first appointment, seeras really
to have been the first thing that fully roused his intellect,
and fired his ambition. He now commenced to study in
earnest.f He seemed to have forraed the resolution, a reso
lution the offspring of a mind at length made conscious
of the possession of a vast, but slumbering power, to raake
himself raaster of the law as a science. He resolved to
go down among the lowest foundations of that system,
upou the higher scaffolding of which he was now called to
labor as an architect, that acquainting himself well with
the shape and structure of the whole building, he might
know precisely how to lay on each additional stone. He
withdrew hiraself, to a great extent, from general society;
he wore often a look of abstraction and indifference to per-
* Mr. Clark's ideas derived from " tradition " are in discord with the state
ments made by the writer in the Wilkesbarre True Democrat. See page 49.
f It is not to be doubted that the powers of Judge Gibson's mind were not
developed to their maximum until long after this period. His published opin
ions are witnesses to this fact. Nevertheless we think that both Judge Porter
and the Rev. Mr. Clark, if they do not overdraw the picture in their actual
statements, present at least an exaggerated contrast to their reader's mind. Thus,
to say that his appointment to the supreme bench was " the first thing that fully
roused his intellect, and fired his ambition," is not exactly correct. Clark has
pictured him almost a booby at college, yet notwithstanding his peripatetic
experience in Beaver and Hagerstown, he returned to Carlisle to practice law,
and after six .vears is sent tothe legislature (nine years after his graduation),
and at the age of thirty-three we find him appointed a judge. True, Governor
Snyder, who appointed him, was married to a relative, and this may have had
some influence in the appointraent, but there appears, however, to have been no
opposition to his so doing. In the legislature he was on the judiciary committee,
and it was no doubt his.experience there which deterrained the governor in raaking
the appointment. These advancing steps must surely have " fired his ambition "
to a very considerable extent. But Judge Porter and Mr. Clark are speaking
most probably only in relative terms, but if so, should have qualified tbe form of
their expressions, to have avoided creating with some of their readers erroneous
impressions.

188 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
sons and things around him, and he devoted himself to the
most difficult authors with an assiduity which most aston
ished those who knew him best. All the evidence to be
had in the case seeras to indicate that his study of the pro-
founder and more difficult principles of the science, was
mainly pursued within a few years after his elevation to
the bench of the Suprerae Court. * * * *
His appointment to the office of chief justice was the
last stimulus that his raind received, which, though not dif
ferent in kind frora that under which he had been moving
for ten years, was different in degree ; and from it his
powers seem to have received fresh irapulse. He was now
at an age at which many raen have reached, if not passed,
the acrae of their power, but he was yet far from his.
From this time forward the chief improvement is seen in his
style, and the condensation of thought exhibited in his
opinions. His style now began to assume a massiveness,
compactness and polish, which bespeak unerringly the con
centration of mind which his habits of study were acquiring
for Ilini ^ ^ J(i :(: :)c :)c
To use an expression of his own, in Lyle vs. Richbards,
with a different application, it was in his power to lay his
hands on it, and "while it was yet in the gristle, to bend
it and mold it at his pleasure." When Judge Gibson
ascended the bench the compass of our jurisprudence was
vastly narrower than now. All the forms and interests of
society, industrially, politically and legally, were far less
complicated than at present. Questions arose, and decisions
were required during the course of his labors, which could
not possibly have had a precedent. Forty years ago we had
no commercial law. The State had then no chartered bank
out of Philadelphia, and only three in that city. Partner-

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER'S ESSAY. 189
ship, negotiable paper, insurance, transportation, and liability
in general, were terms of very different meaning and appli
cation then from what they bear now. The two main
departments of the law were those of special pleading and
real estate. Much of the business of the courts consisted
in the settleraent of titles of land. With these his studies
chiefly coraraenced, and he not only completely mastered
thera afterwards, but raastered, we might alraost say created,
other branches as they arose. It was his thorough under
standing of the system, and his confidence in his own per
ceptions of the beautiful, that emboldened him to declare in
the face of the criticism which he knew it would evoke,
that " he knew no more beautiful system, nor one more
founded on principles of equity, than the laud laws of
Pennsylvania." When we remember that such was Pennsyl
vania jurisprudence then, and glance at what it is now, and
remember that for nearly forty years he was the leading mind
on the bench of its highest tribunal, the one whose opinions
are quoted as authority more frequently than those of all
his contemporaries put together, it will give us a bird's-eye
view of what he has done. *****
The other case is that well known as the " Presbyte
rian Church case." In 1801 a "Plan of Union" was
adopted between the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church and the General Association of Connecticut (Con
gregational), which was desigued to secure the co-operation
of these two branches of the Protestant church in their
missionary work in the " new settlements." But like all
unions which grow not out of a community of organic life, it
was found to generate trouble and discord. The effort to
amalgamate principles " as immiscible as water aud oil" (to
quote Judge Gibson), only operated to damage both of

190 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
them. An element was introduced into the Presbyterian
Church which was foreign to its organic life, an element
which could not be assimilated and must be thrown off.
This was what the Assembly of 1837 did in passing what
are known as " the exscinding acts," legislative ordinances
by which the " Plan of Union " was dissolved, and the
Synods of Utica, Genessee, Geneva and Western Reserve,
which grew out of the said plan, declared " to be out of the
ecclesiastical connection of the Presbyterian Church of the
United States of America," and the Presbyterian elements
in said synods ordered " to attach themselves to the
nearest presbyteries." These acts formed a party in the
Presbyterian Church resolved to assert the prerogatives of
the exscinded synods, and the " tug of war " came in the
General Assembly of 1838. At this Assembly comrais-
sioners from the four synods presented theraselves, and the
Assembly refusing to acknowledge them, a revolutionary
party undertook to seize the reins of ecclesiastical govern
ment, organized themselves as the General Assembly, and
after retiring to a separate roora proceeded to exercise all
the supposed functions of the Assembly. Among these was
the election of their own trustees to secure the perpetuity
of the corporation under the laws of Pennsylvania. The
trustees elected by the former Assemblies and by the other
Assembly (the Old School) refused to surrender to their
rivals " the franchises, offices, privileges and liberties " con
ferred on them by law " as Trustees of the General
Asserably of the Presbyterian Church in the United States
of America." Upon this refusal an action of law was
brought, and the case tried before Judge Rogers and a
special jury at the Nisi Prius for Philadelphia, on the 4th
day of March, 1839. The case was one " without prece-

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER's ESSAY. 191
dent and presenting some extraordinary features," and it
occasioned intense interest in every part of the Union. The
Nisi Prius jury, under the charge of Judge Rogers, found
a verdict against the defendants, which, if it had stood,
would have had the effect of declaring the trustees elected
by the New School body the true, legal and proper trus
tees of the General Assembly. Sixty-five reasons for a new
trial were filed, and the case argued the same month be
fore the court in banc, and the Chief Justice pronounced
the opinion of the Court. Their decision raade the rule
for a new trial absolute. Here we quote Mr. Porter :
[Omitted, see Porter's Essay, page 142 of this Memoir.]
*******
That opinion (see 4 Wharton, page 598) is indeed a
masterpiece. Its opening sentence is eminently characteristic,
and shows how vigorously his powerful mind had been
working through the case: "To extricate the question from
the raultifarious mass of irrelevant matter in which it is
enclosed," etc. The case we believe to have been one emi
nently suited to his peculiar powers, and none but he could
have dealt with it so thoroughly. He shows, with most
searching analysis, that the abrogation of the " Plan of
Union " as a legislative act of the As.sembly was perfectly
constitutional and valid; that the commissioners frora the
exscinded synods were not entitled to seats in the Assem
bly after the Act of 1837; that the proceedings of the
minority in the Asserably of 1838 were in violation of the
established order, and hence a forfeiture of constitutional
rights and titles ; and that their trustees were not trustees
of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, which
though not itself a corporation, is the reproductive organ
of corporate succession, according to its charter.

192 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
In this decision and opinion. Judge Gibson rendered a
service of incalculable importance to the whole country. The
finding of the Nisi Prius jury would have perpetuated a
great and most flagrant wrong. It would have put a
schismatical and revolutionary branch in possession of the
true lineal succession of the Presbyterian Church, so far
as that could be done by the civil law. It would have
legitimated revolution and disorder, and might have proved
the entering wedge to consequences of which it would have
been impossible to have foreseen the end. * *
He combined to an unusual degree the perceptive and
the logical faculties. His intuitions were clear, strong and
comprehensive, and his logical processes from ascertained data
were sure and steady, though not characterized by the mi
nute syllogystic method of the mere logician. The perceptive
or intuitive faculties of his raind predominated, and hence had
his calling lay in that sphere he would have been a phi
losopher of the Platonic rather than of the Aristotelian
school. He grasped, with a far-reaching intuition, great
principles or universal facts, and he took in at once all
their bearings and relations, and applied them with match
less and almost unerring skill to any particular matter in
hand. He had little taste or patience for mere hair-split
ting; and though unsurpassed, in his sphere, in the dis
crimination with which he stated a point, yet he had no
fondness for those di.scriminations which rest on a distinc
tion without a difference. Hence the epithet which raost
accurately describes his caste of mind and style, is philo
sophical rather than metaphysical. His mind was well
fitted to reflect intelligently ou the raost elevated subjects
of huraan knowledge, and to represent clearly and coher
ently the ideas thus attained, whilst at the sarae tirae are

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER's ESSAY. 193
wanting that overstrained subtlety, fine-spun sophistry, and
untelligible mysticism, which are so common in the depart
ment of what is technically called metaphysics. Meta
physics owes its parentage to Aristotle; philosophy is the
offspring rather of the antagonistic school. His intellectual
processes have been thus described : " His mental vision
took in the whole outline and all the details of the ease,
and with a bold and steady hand he painted what he saw."*
This is the highest exercise of a philosophical mind. Mr.
Porter, in endeavoring to classify hira amongst writers and
thinkers, assigns him his place, generically, and correctly
enough, among those whose fame rests upon treatises of a
philosophical nature; but he finds no little difficulty, as is
comraon in such cases, in naming one with whom he may
exactly liken him. He finds points of resemblance in
Johnson, Butler and Edwards, but no likeness. This he
finds most nearly in John Foster. On this point we think
his accuracy may be successfully challenged. There are
doubtless points of reserablance, and these may be traced
with much plausibility in some of Foster's essays, but
there are points of great dissimilarity which can scarcely
pass under the plea of allowance for the difference of
sphere and of subject. There were eleraents in the struc
ture of Foster's raind which were wholly wanting in
Gibson's, and important elements in Gibson's which were
wholly wanting in Foster's. In no sphere could Gibson
have been found carefully elaborating such palpable absurd
ities, magnifying unimportant matters into matters of the
first importance, and propounding plausible theories for
nobody to adopt, as are to be found here and there in the
writings of the great essayist. And though we are a
* Chief Justice Black's Eulogy, 7 Harris, page 11.
25

194 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
great admirer of Foster, and claim for him no second
place among modern writers, in originality and power, yet
we are free to assert for the Pennsylvania chief justice a
sounder and safer raind in its organic structure.
Such being his intellectual conforraation, the reader might
almost predict, prior to actual ascertainment, what would
be the department of his profession for which his powers
were specially adapted, and in which his tastes would most
luxuriate. To say that he was strikingly deficient in any
of the great branches of the law would be a great mistake,
and not in accordance with the universal character of his
mind. But he was most at horae in the sphere of consti
tutional law. The breadth and coraprehensiveness of his
views, and his tendency to rely upon the great principles
of the science, rather than upon technicalities and decided
cases, found here the sphere for their fittest exeraplification.
" In the fertile and extensive fields of Araerican constitu
tional law, his powers exhibited to advantage the propor
tions which nature had given them, and he breathed out
his great thoughts with the conscious freedom of a man
who is master of the very ground which he occupies."*
He was a champion also of the common law. In speak
ing of Judge Kennedy he once said : " He clung to the
common law as a child to its nurse, and how much he
drew frora it may be seen in his opinions, which, by their
elaborate minuteness remind us of the overfullness of Coke."t
Writers of eulogy and biography, as well as poets, soraetimes
unconsciously draw their own portraits as accurately as those
of the departed. In this instance Judge Gibson, leaving out
the idea contained in the last member of the sentence, fur
nished a master stroke for his own portraiture. The com-
* Porter's Essay, etc. t ^ Barr, p. 6.

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER'S ESSAY. 195
mon law is the evolution and product of great principles
working through successive ages, and it raay be called
organic, when contrasted with the civil or statutory law,
which may be called mechanical. * * * *
His style has often been spoken of as a model of
judicial composition. Perhaps as such it has never been
excelled. It combines richness, dignity, force, condensation
and clearness in a remarkable manner. It abounds in illus
trations, comparisons, metaphors and quoted maxims, but
none of these seem to have been sought, but to spring up
unbidden in the spontaneous workings of his mind, they
seem indeed, at all times, to have been a constituent part
of his mental processes. He never seemed to choose his
language; it was the natural garb in which his thoughts
clothed themselves, and the drapery always revealed the
exact shape of the body it covered. * * * *
He seemed to use language at all times as the medium
and servant of thought, at best an imperfect one, and one
which he felt authorized to bend and readjust to suit his
purposes. "The thoughts theraselves were great thoughts strug
gling to make themselves felt through words, which, however
weU chosen, but obstructed them, and which were used at all
only because better could not then be found." He had a
habit which is always observable in men of original and
profound minds, whose power of conception, perception and
mental combination being so much superior to the average
of the race, makes language as it is found to exist, a
meagre and insufficient vehicle of their thoughts, viz., the
habit of manufacturing words, and of using words in
unusual significations. Mr. Porter has cited a nuraber of
these words, as ' unilateral,' ' individuate,' ' manipulating the
testimony,' 'convergent intent,' etc. In a very cursory

196 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
examination of some of his opinions, in search of such
words, we picked out the following: 'questionless,' 'rebut
tal,' 'inequity,' 'voidable,' ' intactible,' ' retropulsive,' 'remain
derman.'* The list raight be extended indefinitely.
This habit sometiraes gives an undue stateliness to his
style, and puts it above the heads of that class of read
ers who may not be able to resolve his Latin combinations.
It suggests, also, that at some tirae in his life he had read
with adrairation the writings of Dr. Johnson. But his
style is in a high degree artistic. It bears the impress
of his sesthetical taste. It is like the creation of an art
ist whose power lay, not in airy Greek porticoes and
Corinthian friezes, but in massive Roman arches, and pon
derous domes, and heavy Gothic buttresses and clustered
pillars. We are disposed to receive with some abatement Mr.
Porter's stateraent, a stateraent very common araong certain
orders of critical writers, that a writer's meaning should
always be apparent at first sight. Clearness is certainly a
desirable quality in authorship, but it must be remembered
that it is a relative quality, and depends as much upon
the power of perception in the reader as upon the
language of the writer. ''A man who has never seen the
sun," says Calderon, " cannot be blaraed for thinking that
no glory can exceed that of the raoon. A man who has
seen neither moon nor sun cannot be blamed for talking
* It is curious that both Judge Porter and Mr. Clark consider some of these
words strange, or coined. "Unilateral" is a botanical term in common use.
"Individuate," "manipulating," "questionless," "voidable," "intactible," "ret
ropulsive," are all in Webster's Dictionary. Judge Porter of course knew that
"remainderman" was a law term. However, for the words "inequity" and
"rebuttal," neither Webster nor Johnson gives them, and while both are now com
mon words in law practice they are not to be found in Abbott's or Brown's Law
Dictionary ; it is possible, therefore, that Judge Gibson invented them.

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTEr's ESSAY. 197
of the unrivalled brightness of the raorning star." The
raass of readers, accustoraed to little else than common
place thought, will toss aside a masterwork upon the
highest subjects of huraan knowledge in disgust at its
obscurity, which, to a raind capable of coraprehending it,
will be not ouly sufficiently clear, but a perennial source
of intellectual pleasure. We would undertake to find Mr.
Porter any nuraber of readers to Avhose rainds the writings
of Calviu, Owen, Locke, Tillotson (instances cited by him)
would not " suggest their meaning at once." Away then
with that silly catering to popular ignorance and prejudice
(we speak not of Mr. Porter), which would corapel every
original and powerful thinker and writer to write in terms
comprehensible by the unthinking and incapable masses. A
great thought stuck out in a form comprehensible by only
a few, will by and by reach the masses, in a shape suited for
thera, by the agency of raen who could not have originated
it. And if a reader finds the production of a great mind
obscure, let him diligently consider whether the fault is in
the writer or the reader. The great lights of succeeding
ages have been those who were pronounced obscure in their
own age.
The condensation of Judge Gibson's style is owing partly
to his well known method of preparing his opinions. He
had a horror of the pen. He seldora wrote except under
the pressure of the most absolute necessity. He did all the
needful thinking first. This he did in his chamber, on the
street, at the table, on the bench, in the public roora of
his hotel, any place and every place, and in any attitude
which rainistered to the sluggishness of his body; and when
he seized the pen he rarely laid it aside until the opinion
was completed. Such a method, with such a mind as his.

198 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
doubtless added to the corapactness and directness of his
style. His bold, beautiful and legible handwriting, free frora
erasure, induced the belief that he transcribed his opinions,
which was rarely, if ever done.
Another feature of Judge Gibson's character, which all
the testimony concurs to make prorainent, was the benevo
lence and kindness of his heart. " His was a raost genial
spirit, affectionate and kind to his friends, and magnanimous
to his enemies. Benefits received by him were engraved on
his memory as on a tablet of brass; injuries were written
in sand."*We are sorry to be unable to record anything satisfactory
respecting the religious character oi the illustrious subject of
the present sketch. In hira as a raan, a human denizen of
earth, there is everything to admire; in hira as an heir of
iramortality, and a subject of the government and gracious
dispensations of God, there is much the want of which we
mourn. The evidence which Mr. Porter has gathered of a
religious element in his nature are very meagre: his attach
ment to the doctrines of the Episcopal Church, his occasional
emotion under the preaching of the gospel, and a letter of
condolence to a gentleman who had been bereaved of a
most excellent mother. Against these, meagre as they are,
the great blemish of his character, profanity, also a family
heirloom, is a sad offset. We fear that like raany of the
leading minds of the day, engrossed in other pursuits, he
passed the subject of religion sub silento.'f
* Eulogy, 7 Harris, p. 13.
t The writer was born in Judge Gibson's house and lived there much of the
time for nearly three years with his brothers and cousins, immediately preced
ing the judge's decease. He has also traveled on several occasions with the
judge over the State in canal boat, stage-coach, and by rail, but under all the
vicissitudes, dangers or annoyances in which he was placed, he never heard an
oath, or the semblance of an oath, escape his lips. Judge Gibson naturally
courted either the society of ladies or his books in his hours of recreation or

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER'S ESSAY. 199
We venture a remark in conclusion respecting the prin
ciple of an elective judiciary which was engrafted on the
Constitution of Pennsylvania in the years 1848,. 1849 and
1850. We shall not attack it on its broadest ground, nor
enforced idleness. , The contrary is sometimes asserted, as elsewhere alluded to,
the result of confusing him with other persons. He was a regular attendant of
the services of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; was baptized in mature years
in that faith, but was not a communicant. To every outward appearance he
was a Christian. Of the fifty or sixty of his private letters in the writer's pos
session every one breathes the language of a great, loving, tender and sympathetic
nature. In not one of them does he say aught against any of his fellow men. It
must be true of him, as Judge Black said, "Benefits received by him were
engraved on his memory as on a tablet of brass ; injuries were written in sand,"
for malice and resentment, in the ordinary acceptation of those words, appeared
to have no abiding place in his nature. If Mr. Clark made a mistake, it came
from the head, scarcely from his heart, and the only serious evil resulting from
such charges is the necessity of replying to them. Judge Gibson probably
believed more in the comraon law of religion ("on these two things hang all the
law and the prophets") than in the statutory creeds and doctrines which some
men formulate and then use to lash their fellow men, whom they fail to make
agree with them. All this does no harm to those so happily constituted as
never to feel or experience the necessity of such lashings. But the charge of
profanity is something susceptible of argument, and permits of the admission
of testimony. On this point Col. Chas. McClure writes as follows: "I never
heard him swear, and think that 'J. C.,' in the article in the Merccrsburg
Quarterly Review, must have confounded him in this particular with his brother,
the general, who swore at times, not like the army in Flanders, but like Uncle
Toby in 'Tristram Shandy.' I remember grandmother's indignation at the
statement in the Quarterly when she read it first, and she characterized it as
untrue." Concerning his Christianity, the following may be of interest. In a letter
from Mrs. W. Milnor Roberts to her sister, Mrs. Anderson, the last mentioned of
whom was in Texas at the time of her father's death, Mrs. K. details the scenes
attending her father's last illness and death, and among other things says: "On
Monday afternoon Cthe day before his death) I asked him if he would not, to
gratify his dear children, see a clergyman. He said, 'What for, dear ?' I replied,
' Dear pa, you know if we pray to God for you He will hear us in your behalf.' He
at once consented. I then named Dr. Ducachet, as Mr. Norris, our old pastor,
was very sick at the tirae. He was perfectly willing to see the doctor, and we at
once dispatched a note requesting him to come as soon as possible. Although pa
could speak but little, still his answers were to the point, and so satisfactory.
His noble intellect never deserted him, and each word he uttered was like a jewel
of inestimable value. Pa said he had no apprehensions concerning or fears of
death ; he had thought long and seriously upon the subject, and could trust entirely
for his acceptance with God on the merits of our Saviour.''

200 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
speak of it as an indication of that radical tendency of the
age which has been gradually putting the power more im
mediately into the hands of the people, and thus changing
our republicanism more and more into pure democracy; we
shall interrogate it only upon one point — can such a man
as Judge Gibson, or any other man, be kept, under this
principle, on the supreme, bench for thirty-seven years?
That the judiciary may produce such men, and the glory
of such distinguished attainment be cast upon the ermine
of the commonwealth, it is absolutely necessary that a
seat upon its bench be not an ephemeral position. Rota
tion in office would be utterly destructive of any such
results. We not only seriously doubt whether Judge Gib
son could have been nominated and elected when he was
appointed to the supreme bench, but we doubt whether he
could have been kept there for a succession of years, when
in his highest vigor. The highest qualifications of a judge
are of all others those which the people are least
able to comprehend or appreciate, and the office is of
all others the one which ought to be kept out of
the arena of party strife. There is not a political
party in this country which would hesitate for a moment
to drop the name of such a man as Gibson from
its ticket, if in a contest characterized by partisan zeal and
clap-trap he did not seera to have the shallow qualification of
availability. His nomination in 1851 was the result of
strenuous exertion on the part of a few devoted personal
friends, and two votes less than he received in convention
would have lost to the State the remainder of his life, and
this with all the prestige of his unqualified career with
which to confront the claims of inferior men. O tempora!
0 merest

REVIEW OF JUDGE PORTER's ESSAY. 201
Besides, there seems to be in Pennsylvania, as Mr.
Porter remarks, a disposition to overthrow rather than to
sustain men of distinguished ability. " It has long been the
subject of remark both at home and abroad, that it seems
only necessary for a man of raore than ordinary capacity
to appear in the politics of the State to be struck at by
every other politician, both great and small." This narrow
jealousy, and green-eyed envy of true greatness, raade to
bear upon the prejudices of the suspicious raultitude, will
be perpetually fatal to our production of eraiuent states-
raen, and may forever keep .us from having a President,
unless some medium man should " wake up some raorn
ing and find hiraself faraous." As long as this disposi
tion prevails in Pennsylvania it will be raost unfit to select
its suprerae judges, and we shall despair of seeing the
repetition of such a career as that of Chief Justice Gib
son. "If the same feeling had prevailed in Virginia and
South Carolina, Massachusetts and Kentucky, where then
had been the great lights of our firraameut?"
There is as rauch intellectual material in Pennsylvania as
in any other of her sister commonwealths. In her popu
lation she presents as broad a basis as is to be found on
this continent. She combines in admirable proportion the
two most sterling races which have ever put foot upon
these shores — the German and the Scotch-Irish. Nothing
but a suicidal policy can dwarf her intellectual devel
opment in the bud. Let us hope for the best, and in the
meantime let us be thankful for such a beacon-light as the
name of John Bannister Gibson.
J. C.
Chambeesbueg, Pa., 1856.

26

PART FIFTH.
IN MEMORIAM OF CHIEF JUSTICE GIBSON.
TRIBUTES FROiVl THE BENCH AND BAR.

The following extracts from the newspaper reports of
various bar meetings on the occasion of the death of Judge
Gibson are well worth preservation. While entirely eulo
gistic, the monotone of praise in the burnished sentences
of some of Pennsylvania's ablest lawyers, many of whom
have passed away never more to be heard before any earthly
forum, cannot fail to be interesting.
They form a picture, as it were, of the generals and
staff who stand at the bedside of a dying chieftain, fel
low soldiers, and part of the history of his time. They
represent all political parties, and among them were sorae of
the warraest friends of Judge Gibson; but it is noticeable
the infrequence of personal sketch and incident the speak
ers attempt, which makes it apparent that their subject
had outgrown his fellows in the race of life, and fell at
last, like the giant tree of the forest, prostrate to earth,
dead and shattered, to lie beneath the friendly shade of its
successors.

204 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Such is life, and the moments attending the crash in
death of the greatest are wisely selected by mankind to
pause and pass in review the history so far accomplished.

In the court of Nisi Prius in Philadelphia, Judge
Lewis presiding. May 3d, 1853, after remarks on Judge Gib
son by Chas. B. Penrose, J. M. Read, and others (not
reported), Judge Lewis said :
" I have heard with great satisfaction the testimony that
has been borne by the gentleraen who have just addressed
the court of the great grasp of intellect, the high judicial
talents and profound learning that have characterized his
distinguished career as a judge, and impressed his name
upon the highest pages of the judicial history of the State
and Union. Feeling as I do the deepest sorrow for his
death, and respect for his memory, sitting as I do, in the
seat which he occupied, and holding that branch of the
court, in consequence of his sickness, which was peculiarly
in his charge, I feel too painfully irapressed with the
raelancholy event to be able to do justice to suitors before
rae. And in respect to his memory, the court will adjourn
until Saturday next."
In Comraon Pleas, the sarae day, before Judge Allison,
David Paul Brown, following the district attorney, said :
" Chief Justice Gibson occupied a high judicial position
for nearly forty years. His intercourse with his brethren
and the bar was always characterized by great kindness
and courtesy, and in point of ability few occupants of the
judicial seat have exhibited higher claims to professional and
personal regard. During thirty years of my professional life

TRIBUTES FROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 205
my relations to him have been of the most friendly and
affectionate character, and I cannot, therefore, but feel that
this brief expression of regret for his loss, is, on my part,
peculiarly appropriate and becoming."
Judge Thompson replied :
" The decisions of the Supreme Court for more than
thirty years contain the indelible marks of his brilliant
intellect. In extensive legal learning he was second to
none, and the more we study his opinions the more deeply
are we impressed with his capacity as a lawyer, his sound
ness and integrity as a judge.
"To the meraory of such a man, closing a long life of
usefulness and industry, we who have benefited by his
labors should be the first to tender the deserved tribute."
It is proper to observe that the reports of the proceed
ings of both the bars at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were
greatly condensed. The newspapers of to-day on such occa
sions furnish more amplified reports of addresses.
At the bar meeting in Philadelphia presided over by
Justice Grier, of the U. S. Circuit Court, Hon. J. M. Dallas
and C. J. Ingersoll, vice presidents; Messrs. Wm. Rawle,
J. Randall, Chas. Ingersoll and J. S. Cohen acted as
secretaries. J. Cadwallader, in moving the appointment of the com
mittee to draft resolutions, said: "It was necessary to adopt
more than the usual formal expressions of grief upon the
decease of one who looked down upon jurisprudence as he
did upon the other sciences, while others have to look
up." Speaking to the resolutions, Josiah Randall said :
"His judicial ermine has passed from hira unspotted.
No one of his day stood before the country in a more

206 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
felicitous position, for his whole life consisted in devotion to
his country. He was a great lawyer, and a great judge.
It might be said he was a Hercules in intellect, with such
great power of analysis as to make everything clear to
the meanest comprehension. No man ever surpassed him in
this particular.
" In Great Britain, Lord Holt was considered the clear
est mind in his legal views, and Judge Gibson would lose
nothing by coraparison with him. His opinions were
remarkable for their simplicity and force. A single sentence
would soraetimes contain many of the most potential prin
ciples of the laws of Pennsylvania. He had not, like
Marshall and Washington, been connected with the courts
of the United States, but he shone with equal lustre in the
courts of his own State.
" Story and Kent have furnished in their Comraentaries
a judicial character for Judge Gibson which posterity will
never forget. His opinions are oftener quoted by thera
than are those of any other man in the country. At West
minster, and on the continent, his name, as a judge, is
heard with respect and attention. *****
He was one of the greatest and soundest jurists that ever
lived. In testing his raerits he had to pass through a
trying ordeal, as Chief Justice Tilghraan had left a proud
product of his labors."
Mr. E. D. Ingrahara said, at the close of his remarks :
" He had lived in the same house with him, and had
had the benefit of his private instruction. The natural
powers of Judge Gibson's mind were strong, and the feel
ings of his nature were of the kindest character. No man
possessed gentler feelings towards his family and friends,
and none were more devoted to his country."

TRIBUTES FROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 207
The committee appointed to engraft the resolutions and
forward them to the family of the deceased was composed
of the following named gentlemen : Horace Binney, John
R. Kane, T. J. Wharton, G. Mallory, T. S. Bell, Wm. M.
Meredith and T. A. Budd.
In the U. S. Court, in Pittsburgh, Hon. Chas. Shaler,"'
U. S. District Attorney, after reading a telegram announcing
the death of Judge Gibson, in the course of his remarks,
said :
"No man, sir, filled a higher or more dignified station
than Judge Gibson, and no man among us, through a long
life of judicial eminence, had acquired in so great a degree
the reverence of the members of the bar, and the love and
* Hon. Chas. Shaler. — Native of Connecticut (1788). Educated at Yale;
went to Ravenna, O., in 1809, as agent for his father's lands at Shalersville, near
by ; studied law, and was adraitted to the bar there ; moved to Pittsburgh and
was admitted to the bar there in 1813 ; was recorder of the city (the law judge
of the mayor's court) from 1818 to 1821 ; was judge of coramon pleas court
from June 5, 1824, till May 4, 1835, when he resigned ; was associate judge dis
trict court from May 6, 1841, till May 20, 1844, when he resigned ; was U. S. dis
trict attorney for western district of Pennsylvania under President Pierce ; died
March 5, 1869, aged 81 years. He was a well read and skillful lawyer, and had
a very large and lucrative practice, from which he retired several years before
his death, because of partial blindness. For some years his partner was Hon.
Edwin M. Stanton, afterwards secretary of war during the rebellion. He had
been a Federalist, but in the Jackson contests became an ardent Democrat, and re
mained so for fifty years, till the close of his life. He never sought party nomina
tions, but had them thrust upon him, and then never refused to run, though defeat
was certain, asking for himself no man's vote, but defiantly carrying aloft the
banner ofhis party, apparently the more joyous the greater the odds against him.
He was a most stirring stump orator, throwing out, in a shrill, clear, penetrating
voice, admirable specimens of irony, invective, logic and humor, to the great
delight of the multitude. Though passionate and vehement in his impulses, he
was a most genial and honorable gentleman. He never shirked responsibility.
It was an admirable trait in his character that he would always shelter a young
associate from reproach for any mistakes in the management of a case, assuming
all blunders as his own. Always generous, he lived up to his large income, and
as some one says of another, " Like most great lawyers, he lived well and died
poor." T. J. K.

208 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
respect of the people. He was one of the greatest men that
Pennsylvania ever produced, and no one, either in this or
any other State, surpassed him in judicial reputation. His
opinions, elaborate and replete with legal eloquence and acu
men, are contained in nearly fifty volumes of reports, and
are not to be excelled, in this or any other country, for
accuracy as regards their construction of law, beauty of
expression, and a high sense of justice. In your bosom,
sir — in those of the merabers of the bar, are felt those
sentiments of sorrow, to the expression of which I find
myself inadequate."
Hon. Wilson McCandless* followed, and said :
" Since I entered this room, the gentleman who preceded
me showed me the telegraphic dispatch announcing the mel
ancholy intelligence of the death of one who has occupied
so eminent a position in the judicial position in the his
tory of Pennsylvania. I am proud to remember that I
have enjoyed the friendship of the deceased ever since I
came to the bar. In social life, no gentleman ever possessed
qualities better calculated to endear him to his friends ; as
to his abilities, they were not to be equalled in Pennsyl
vania; as to his legal learning, all the merabers of this bar
* Hon. Wilson McCandless.— Born in 1810, in Allegheny county. Pa. ; edu
cated at the Western University, Pittsburgh ; admitted to the bar in 1831 ; died
June 30, 1882, aged 71 years. He practiced for some years in connection with
W. W. Fetterman, afterwards with Wm. B. McClure, his brother-in-law, and
was judge of the U. S. district court from 1859 till 1876, when he resigned
because of ill health. He was an accomplished gentleman, and a model orator ;
tried many causes of an important character; was very eflTective with juries, but
was in his glory as speaker on great public occasions, especially on the political
rostrum. His speeches always glowed with the loftiest sentiments, expressed
with sonorous tones in the grandest language. Scholarly, witty, highly apprecia
tive of wit in others, exceedingly social, and with no bitterness in his nature,
he was admired by all who knew him. The Democracy several times nominated
him for Congress and sent him frequently to their conventions. State and
National. t. j. k.

TRIBUTES FROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 209
and the profession throughout the State well know that he
stood second to none. When, by the alteration of the con
stitution, the judiciary becarae elective, he was chosen by the
people again to fill the station which he had adorned, for
they had long had confidence in his decisions, and though
many came into the Supreme Court, dissatisfied with the pro
ceedings of the court below, they never left it without being
satisfied that he had done justice, however it raight railitate
against their interest.
" Sir, this raelancholy event was not unexpected. The
last time we saw Judge Gibson, in another room in this
court house,* those who were acquainted with him per
ceived that the sands of life were fast wasting away; that
his body was worn out by the brilliancy of an intellect
which even to the last shone with a resplendent lustre."
The Honorable Judge Irwinf then replied as follows:
" I feel that the tribute of respect to the memory of
the lamented Judge Gibson, which has just been paid by
the distinguished gentlemen, is a very just one, and that no
man deserved it better. The people of this State for forty
years have been acquainted with his judicial abilities, and it
is due to them that this court should comply with the
suggestion which has been made. I know of no man who
held a higher place in the respect and in the hearts of the
people than the deceased, and I sympathize in their loss."
* The present postofiice and U. S. court building was at this time (1853)
in progress of construction, and the U. S. court was held in a roora in the
county building.
f Hon. Thos. Irwin. — Born in Philadelphia, 1784; son of Col. /Matthew
Irwin of the Revolution; educated at Franklin college, Lancaster, Pa.; went to
Louisiana, 1808, and practiced law; came to Uniontown, Pa., in 1811, and prac
ticed there; elected to legislature in 1824 and 1826, and to congress in 1828.
appointed by Jackson, 1830, judge of U. S. district court, western district of
Pennsylvania; died, 1870, aged 87; obtained a national reputation by an able
opinion in the fugitive slave law of 1850. t. j. k.
27

210 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
On the same day, in the District Court, Judge Shannon*
entered into a review of the life of Judge Gibson, and at
the end of- it said :
"During the long period that vast interests were
entrusted to him, what great principles were announced, and
what conflicting points and sophistical arguments were obliged
to pass the grave and searcKing review of his coraprehen-
sive intellect. His opinions are scattered over and run
through about sixty- six volumes of our Reports. Of what
judge in this country, or elsewhere, can so rauch be said?
"He was materially assisted in laying the foundations
and in building up the superstr notion of our jurisprudence.
Sorae of his legal opinions are raasterpieces, which have
justly won admiration, even in the courts of Westminster
hall, and which will remain lasting memorials of his skill
and genius. It would be unnecessary to dilate upon the
fitness of his style, or the purity of his diction ; these are
familiar things to the gentlemen of the law, worthy of imi
tation. His name will properly rank in point of ability
with those of the most eminent judges who ever graced a
bench. If Massachusetts boasts of a Story, and New York
of a Kent, we, as Pennsylvanians, can proudly point to the
great intellectuality and profound legal learning of John
Bannister Gibson."
In the Court of Common Pleas, which was engaged in
* Hon. Petee C. Shannon. — A native of Ireland, a man of letters, brought
to this country in his childhood; studied law with Hon. H. D. Foster, in Greens
burg, Pa. ; was admitted to the bar there in 1845 ; appointed by Governor Bigler
president judge of district court of Allegheny county in 1852, on occasion ofthe
death of Judge Walter Forward ; afterwards practiced in Pittsburgh till 1869,
when he was appointed chief justice of U. S. courts in Dakota ; then moved to
Yankton, D. T. ; returned to Pittsburgh in 1886, and is now in practice there. He
is a gentleman of culture, a poet and orator ; was twice Democratic candidate for
congress, and since the rebellion is a prominent leader in the Eepublican party.
T. J. K.

TRIBUTES FROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 211
the trial of a case, after a few remarks by the Hon. Wil
son McCandless, who announced the news of Judge Gibson's
death, Thomas Williams, Esq.,* said:
" If the court please, although I ara engaged in the
trial of a case, I deera it but proper to yield to an exi
gency such as this, in order that the court raay pay that
token of respect which is due to the raeraory of so great
a raan as the late chief justice of this State. I concur in
the remarks which have just been made by the gentleman,
for no raan connected ^vith the legal history of Pennsylvania
has left a deeper stamp upon its jurisprudence than Judge
Gibson. His history, in fact, is a part of its history, and
he has done as much as any raan in this coraraonwealth to
raold it into its present shape. The opinions of no other
judge of this State have been raore universally diffused, or
characterized by a deeper judicial wisdora."
S. W. Black, Esq.jf counsel on the opposite side of the
case before the court, on beha,lf of himself and the Hon.
Cornelius Darragh, colleague, seconded the motion, and could
* Thos. Williams. — Born in Greensburg, Pa., 18 — ; received an excellent
academical education ; admitted to the bar in Allegheny county August 7, 1828 ;
obtained a fine practice ; participated actively in politics as an acknowledged
leader in the old Whig, and after in the Republican party ; was some years State
senator; again in the house of representatives, Pennsylvania, and in congress
during the rebellion, when he was a chief confidential adviser of President Lin
coln. He was an admirable classical scholar, and an eloquent speaker and
writer. He was quite conspicuous in the legal battles made against the constitu
tionality of municipal subscriptions to railroads, and wrote acrimonious, yet
powerful reviews of the supreme court decisions on that and kindred questions.
Died in Allegheny in 187 — . T. j. K.
t Saml. W. Black. — Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Septeraber 3, 1816. Educated
under the immediate care of his learned father. Rev. John Black, D. D., presi
dent of the Western University. Adraitted to the bar March 7, 1838. • Became
foremost in criminal practice ; was first colonel in the Mexican war ; was gover
nor of Nebraska Territory ; was colonel of Sixty-second regiment, Pennsylvania
volunteers, in the late civil war. Killed at Gaines' Mill, Va., June 27, 1862. He
was a fiery orator, at the same time full of wit and inimitable at repartee. T. J. K.

212 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
only say that he cordially joined in the sentiments which
had been expressed, and trusted that the court would respond
to them proraptly.
Hon. William B. McClure* addressed the members of the
bar as follows :
" This announcement fills the court with sorrow. He has
died full of years and full of honors. His legal decisions
are our inheritance, and his fame is his country's. They
will endure longer than the marble and the brass, by which
men endeavor to perpetuate the memory of a transcendent
raerit. The intiraate family ties existing by marriage between
the family of the chief justice and the president judge of
this court,t interdict the expressions of admiration and hom
age due to his overshadowing genius and learning."
The meeting of the bar of Curaberland county was held
May 4, and was presided over by the Hon. Frederick Watts,
Judge Gibson's next door neighbor, and kinsraan by raar
riage. In early life he, with Sergeant, was a reporter
of the Suprerae Court; later, the judge of Cumberland
* Hon. Wm. B. McCldee. — Born 1807, near Carlisle, Pa. ; graduated at
Dickinson college in 1827 ; read law in Pittsburgh, and was adraitted to the bar
in 1829 ; had a very large practice in connection with his brother-in-law, Wilson
McCandless ; was law judge of the courts of common pleas, orphans' court, quar
ter sessions and oyer and terminer, of Allegheny county, frora 1850 to 1859, first
by appointment of the governor, and twice afterwards by election ; died Decem
ber 27, 1861, worn out with the enormous amount of labor required of him, and
which he faithfully performed in his oflioial position.' He was, by nature, kind
hearted, but rigid in enforcement of the crirainal law for repression of crime.
He was famous as a crirainal judge, and tried raore ofienses of the higher grade
than any other judge in the State, in the sarae period of time. He was closely
related to Judge Gibson by marriage. T. j. K.
t Judge McClure here alludes to himself and his relationship through the
marriage of his brother. Col. Charles McClure, to Margaretta, eldest daughter of
Judge Gibson. The families were closely allied by common residence in Cum
berland county.

TRIBUTES FROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 213
county; afterwards one of the most successful practitioners
of the bar. For years also he was president of the State
Agricultural Society, and was appointed by President Grant
commissioner of agriculture, which ofiice he held under Grant
for both terms.
In concluding a brief sketch of Judge Gibson, Judge
Watts said :
"Nothing short of a laborious study of our "profession
will enable us to fully appreciate those firm foundations
and pillars of the law, and especially those just principles
of equity which have been so beautifully developed and
aptly molded into rules of right by his great mind."
Following the resolutions offered by himself, the Hon.
Hugh Gaullager * delivered a fervent and highly eulogistic
address, in which he said :
" We are told by Lord Coke that ' law is the perfection
of reason,' and we may truly say, in the language of our
great master, that these opinions of our late chief justice
are the perfection of reason, and products of a powerful
and discriminating intellect, schooled and trained by long
study, often conference, long experience and continual obser-
* Mr. Gaullager spoke always in a deep toned, powerful voice, with guttural
intonations amounting to an Irish brogue, peculiar to himself. He lived but three
years after Judge Gibson. The writer, though a boy of but thirteen at the time
of his death, has a vivid recollection of him, as well as of the style of raany
others of the Carlisle lawyers of this period, for if sometimes be was a truant
from school he could have been found " during court week " occupying a front
seat in the sacred hall of justice, with mouth agape perhaps, but certainly with
ears more intelligently open than were those of the average Pennsylvania Dutch
juryman. It may be appropriate to remark just here, for the benefit of those unac
quainted with the Cumberland Valley and other " Dutch " districts, that the
Dutch were sensible enough to live in the country and grow rich on their fat lirae-
stone farms, leaving the county seats to the aristocratic English, Scotch and
Irish, where there being no labor markets open, every person resorted to his wits
to gain a living, hence so many lawyers; good ones, too, for many of the "emi
grants" driven from home by "over production" achieved distinction else
where.

214 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
vation. It has often been remarked by raembers of our
profession, that the late chief justice would have made an
eminent chancellor. This is true, and although we have no
court of chancery, he adrainistered equity principles and
under coraraon law forms wherever he could when the jus
tice of the case required it. It is but just to say of him,
that in equity science he was as learned and profound as
the Harwicks, the Thurlows, the Eldons, the Marshalls, the
Washingtons, and Kents."
Mr. William Biddle, who followed, said :
" It can be truly said of him, ' those who knew him
best, love him most.' Carlisle will grieve that the last of her
distinguished sons that have graced the bench of the Supreme
Court, has been taken from us. It is a remarkable fact, and one
which her inhabitants may well feel proud of, that our town,
with its comparatively small population,* has furnished no
less than four of the judges of that court. First, the
Honorable Hugh H. Brackenridge, who at his death was
succeeded next by the Honorable Thomas Duncan, f and
lastly by the Honorable John Kennedy. For a period of more
than ten years during which the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
consisted of but three members, two of thera, Justices Gibson
and Duncan, J were distinguished citizens of this town. And
after the number was enlarged to five, and Judge Duncan
had died, Carlisle could still point with pride to the chief
justice and Judge Kennedy."
Following Mr. Biddle came the gifted speaker, J. E.
Bonham, who died within a year or two following this
meeting, as did also, indeed uot long thereafter, the kindly
* In 1853 about 4,000 ; in 1880 about 8,000.
t Mr. Biddle was in error ; Judge Gibson preceded Duncan and followed
Brackenridge. X He might have added, and from the same law oflSce.

TRIBUTES FROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 215
hearted Biddle. In the course of his reraarks Mr. Bonham
said this of Judge Black:
"At one tirae I heard the present chief justice say, and
he judged by the intuitive knowledge of a kindred spirit,
that he was utterly astonished at the freshness and vigor
of 'the old chief in consultation ; that his raind appeared
irabued with all the elasticity of youth as well as the
wisdora of age, and grasped the whole range of legal sci
ence. At another and raore recent period, when he had
known him longer and better, and as his admiration in
creased, he remarked that he regarded Gibson the greatest
raind he had ever met; that, notwithstanding his age, his
vis inertia of body, and which constantly dragged him
down, his intellectual powers were most brilliant and com
manding. " Chancellor Kent ranked him araong the first jurists of
this age, and it may be said of him, as he truthfully and
beautifully said of his late lamented colleague. Justice Ken
nedy, that ' he clung to the common law as a child to its
nurse.' His opinions are as siraple and elegant in their
style as they are learned and profound. His powers of
analysis and condensation were remarkable and peculiar to
himself." •
Lemuel Todd, then on the threshold of his since
achieved fame as an orator, followed and said :
" His duty was almost performed, and the measure of
his life almost full, before I entered the profession. He is
known to me only as a judge who has irapressed upon our
jurisprudence the character of his own gigantic intellect,
and done more, during his long and distinguished career,
to give form, consistency, and strength to our peculiar sys
tem, than any man living or dead."

216 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
J. B. Parker, Esq.,* closed the addresses, the following
being a brief extract from his remarks :
" The characteristic of his reasoning was great power of
condensation, of his style, nervousness and perspicuity, with
felicity of illustration, choice and apt in the selection of
words, peculiarly careful and precise as to their value and
raeaning, ever eraphatically the right word in the right place ;
his judicial opinions are models for clearness and accuracy
of expression, as for cogency of arguraent. His numerous
decisions, which fill and enrich the pages of our Reports,
are his best and raost enduring monuraent — a monument of
intellect ; but his vigorous mind was not restrained within
the limits of legal science. It was richly stored with the
fruits of research' in other doraains of science, while in lit
erature and the fine arts his taste was cultivated and re
fined." It would serve no good purpose to extend this corapila-
tion by adding editorial notices, resolutions of condolence of
political and other organizations throughout the State, for
while they breathe with expressions, no doubt, of sincere
regret at the loss of the deceased jurist, they throw but
little additional Hght upon his character, and none what
ever, except in the case of the Wilkesbarre paper, else
where noticed, upon his life and doraestic habits, particulars
of which are always of the greatest interest in any memoir.
Historical consistency may, however, justify an exception
in the case of the following extract frora the pages of a
March nuraber (pages 311 and 312, exact year unknown) of

* Mr. Parker died recently in Carlisle. He was for many years the law
partner of Judge Watts, and was named by Judge Gibson as the executor of
his will.

TRIBUTES PROM THE BENCH AND BAR. 217
the United States Law Magazine, in a sketch of Gibson several
years before his death :
" Independently of constant sittings throughout the cora
raonwealth, on the circuits and at Nisi Prius, where some
of the ablest opinions have been given without record, the
Pennsylvania Reports preserve enduring evidence of his
ability, fidelity and learning.
"'The Reports of Pennsylvania,' said the late Charles
Chauncey, 'are entitled to the adrairation of the lawyer, at
horae and abroad. They contain decisions which have led
the way upon some very interesting subjects, and which
have been followed both here and in England.'
"How far and how faithfully Chief Justice Gibson has
participated in those labors so honorable to his native State,
is attested by upwards of six thousand cases in which he
has taken part in the final judgraent of the court, and
more than twelve hundred in which he has himself delivered
opinions distinguished for their impartiality, learning and
conclusive force. Mr. Binney, we are sure, did but speak
a sentiment of perfect truth, when on an occasion dic
tated by respect to the tribunal, where for five and twenty
years Chief Justice Gibson has presided, he declared, amidst
the enthusiastic response of men of every party, that at
no time has the judgment of the court been guided by
either favor or resentment ; and that in learning, integrity
and industry, the judges of the court have never been
wanting to themselves, the profession or the country. ' We
all agree,^ said this eminent lawyer, ' that the judges of
the Supreme Court have been faithful to the Constitution and
the Law; faithful to the State and to the Union; faithful
to the People and to the Bar.'
28

218 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
" In person the chief justice is above the common stat
ure,* and has always been distinguished by extraordinary
vigor of health and frame. His temperaments are eminently
social, and among all classes of society throughout the
State, he is ever greeted as a welcome guest. His hearty health,
his fresh and genial tastes, and his devotion 'to judicial
labors, indicate a man on whose vigorous power age has
made no mark." * Judge Gibson was six feet three inches in height.

APPENDIX A.

SKETCH OF JOHN GIBSON.*
John Gibson was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 23d,
1740. He received a classical education, and was an excellent
scholar at the age of eighteen, when he entered the service. His
first campaign was under General Forbes, in the expedition which
resulted in the acquisition of Fort Duquesne, afterward Fort Pitt,
from the French. He then settled at Pittsburgh, as a trader. War
broke out^in 1763 with the Indians, and Gibson was taken prisoner
at the mouth of the Beaver, 28 miles below Fort Pitt, with two
raen who were in his employ. They were, at the time, descending
the Ohio in a canoe. One of his men was immediately tortured
at the stake, and the other shared the same fate as soon as the party
reached the Kanawha. Gibson, however, was preserved by an aged
squaw, and adopted by her in the place of a son who had been killed
in battle. In 1764 he was given up by the Indians to Col. Boquet,
when he again settled at Pittsburgh, resuming his occupation of
trading with the Ipdians.
In 1774 Gibson acted a conspicuous part in the expedition
against the Shawnees, under Lord Dunraore (Governor of Vir
ginia), particularly in negotiating the peace which followed. It
was upon this occasion, near the waters of the Scioto river, in
what is now Pickaway county, Ohio, that Logan, the Mingo chief,
made to him the speech so celebrated in hislory.
At the breaking out of the Revolution Gibson was the western
agent of Virginia at Pittsburgh. After the treaty in the fall of
1775, at that place, between the Delawares and the representatives
*From the "Washington-Irvine Correspondence," p. 349.

220 JOHN BANNISTER, GIBSON.
of the Shawnees and Senecas on the one part, and the commission
ers of the American congress on the other part, by which the neu
trality of the first mentioned tribe was secured, he undertook a
tour to the Western Indians iu the interests of peace. Upon his
return he entered the continental service, rising, finally, to the com
mand of the Thirteenth Virginia regiment, at Fort Pitt, in the
summer of 1778, he having previously seen service east of the
mountains. He reraained at that post from that date until the
close of the war, having several times the chief command, though
temporarily, of the fort, and its dependencies. For his services a
Virginia military land warrant was issued before December 31,
1784. He remained in the West, and was a member of the con
vention which fraraed the constitution of Pennsylvania in 1790 ;
and subsequently was a judge of Allegheny county, that State;
also a major general of militia. He was secretary of the territory
of Indiana until it becarae a State, and, by virtue of his ofiice,
was, at one time, its acting governor. He died at Braddock's
Field, in Allegheny county, Pa., April 16th, 1822. At the time
of his death he was a pensioner under the Act of March 18, 1818.

SKETCH BY THE REV. LICHLITER.
Following is an extract from a sketch of " General John
Gibson " read before the Historical Society of Western Pennsyl
vania by the Rev. M. D. Lichliter, February 13th, 1890 :
" Col. Gibson made Allegheny county his horae the remainder
of his life, serving in various positions of honor and trust. He
was a member of the convention which fraraed the State constitu
tion in 1790, and subsequently served his country as an associate
judge. He obtained the rank of a general by being promoted
major general of militia. In 1801 President Jefferson appointed
hira secretary of the Indiana territory, which position he filled until
the territory became a State, of which he was acting governor from
1811 to 1813. He died at Braddock's Field, April 16th, 1822,
and is buried in Allegheny cemetery. On a flat stone tablet lying
upon his grave is the following inscription :

APPENDIX A. 221
In memory of
CoL. John Gibson,
who departed this life on the 16th of April, 1822, in the 82d year of his age.
He was amongst the earliest settlers in the western part of Pennsylvania, and
participated in the long struggle for our independence. This testimony of respect
and affection is erected by the disconsolate widow.
On another slab is the following :
In memory of
Ann Gibson,
Relict of
John Gibson.
Was born at Carlisle, Pa.,
Nov. 15th, 1762,
and died at Pittsburgh,
July 19th, 1835,
in the 73d year of her age.
In the same burial plot are two slabs bearing the names of
George Wallace and his wife. Mr. Wallace was one of the pio
neers, and at one tirae owned the historic field where Braddock
met his defeat, which tract of 328 acres was conveyed to him by
George Thompson, in 1791. Wallace, who was the first judge of
common pleas of Allegheny county, erected a beautiful home upon
his land, in which he had the honor of entertaining General
Lafayette, in 1825, who stopped and took luncheon with him.
At the time Wallace came in possession of the above tract he
was Washington's personal friend, and chief of his staff.
An upright stone, more modest in style, yet quite plain, stands
within the enclosure of thisplot, havingon one side the names of the
Gibson and Wallace families, the date of their birth and death.
On the opposite side are the inscriptions in commeraoration of
Rev. Z. H. Qoston and his wife. The Rev. Coston was a noted
pioneer preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, whose name
is still cherished among many of the older merabers in Western
Pennsylvania. He died May 4tli, 1874, aged 80 years. His wife,
who was a daughter of George Wallace, was born April 2d, 1787,
and died April 9th, 1864. Col. Gibson was the father-in-law of
George Wallace." *
• From the above it would appear that General Gibson must have been mar
ried to Ann Gibson before 1770, to have had a granddaughter born in 1787. Mr.
Lichliter is mistaken, therefore, in the statement in another part of his sketch,
not quoted, that in 1774 Gibson's wife was a sister of Logan, the Indian chief.

222 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
SPEECH OF LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF.
Thomas Jefferson, who probably found the speech, or message,
of Logan, in the archives of the State of Virginia, presented it to
the public, accompanied with the following prelude :
" I may challenge the whole of the orations of Demosthenes
and Cicero, and, indeed, of any more eminent orators, if Europe
or the world has furnished raore eminent, to produce a single pas
sage superior to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, delivered to
Lord Dunmore when governor of Virginia. ' As a testimony of
Indian talents in this line, I beg leave to introduce it, by first
relating the incidents necessary for understanding it.
" In the spring of the year 1774 a robbery was committed by
some Indians upon certain land adventurers on the Ohio river. The
whites in that quarter, according to their custom, undertook to pun
ish this outrage in a suraraary way. Captain Michael Cresap, and
one Daniel Greathouse, leading on these parties, surprised, at dif
ferent tiraes, traveling and hunting parties of the Indians, who
had their woraen and children with thera, and murdered many.
Among these, unfortunately, were the family of Logan, a chief
celebrated in peace and war, and long distinguished as the friend
of the whites.
" This unworthy return provoked his vengeance. He accord
ingly signalized himself in the war which ensued. In the autumn
of the same year a decisive battle was fought at the mouth of the
Great Kanawha, between the collected forces of the Shawnees, the
Mingos, and the Delawares, and a detachment of the Virginia
militia. The Indians were defeated and sued for peace. Logan,
however, disdained to be seen among the suppliants ; but, lest the
sincerity of a treaty, from which so distinguished a chief absented
himself, should be distrusted, he sent, by a messenger, the follow
ing speech to be delivered to Lord Dunmore :
" ' I appeal to any white man'to say if ever he entered Logan's
cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat ; if ever he came cold
and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last
long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advo-

APPENDIX A. 223
cate for peace. Such was my love for the whites that my country
men pointed as they passed, and said, ' Logan is the friend ofthe
white men.' I had even thought to live with you, but for the
injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, last spring, in cold blood,
and unprovoked, murdered all the relatives of Logan, not sparing
even my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood
in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge.
I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my
vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the bearas of peace ; but
do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear.* Logan
never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life.
Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one.' "
Mr. William Hamilton, Superintendent of the Parks in Alle
gheny City, and president of the Botanical Society of Western
Pennsylvania, has in his possession the originals of the subjoined
letters. In referring to the circumstances under which Logan's
speech was delivered, Mr. Hamilton says that he heard General
William Robinson state that the message was given to Gibson
whilst Logan and Gibson were seated on a log, no other person
being present. This statement, now revived by Mr. Hamilton, of
the manner of the delivery of the message, accords with statements
made by General Gibson to several other persons.
The " envoys " referred to in Jefferson's letter to Gibson were
most likely Elbridge Gerry, John Marshall and Chas. Pinckney,
who were rather coldly received by the French Directory. When
* If Mr. JeflTerson had taken the limited vocabulary of the Mingo chief, or
for that matter any other-Indian tongue, he could scarcely have found an equiva
lent for the expressions, " the joy of fear," "the beams of peace," etc. Strange,
indeed, that the genius of the translator was not taken into some account by
him. Reference was previously made to the fact that Logan came from the Juniata
Valley. Mr. E. S. Elliott, in his interesting " Notes Taken in Sixty Years," thus
alludes to him :
" The famous Mingo chief had his home at the head of the picturesque gorge
called Jack's Narrows (on the Pennsylvania Railroad), where the tumbling
Kishacoquillas creek makes its way through Jack's mountain. » » #
When game grew scarce Logan moved to a new home on the Ohio river, had all
his family murdered by white men, took a fearful revenge, and made (as reported
by Jefferson) one of the most pathetic speeches in any tongue."

224 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
the demand was made that the United States pay France $250,000
to settle the little war cloud which had arisen between the two
countries, came Pinckney's immortal answer : " Millions for
defense, but not one cent for tribute," and the country realized the
words, building six frigates iraraediately, in one of which, the
"Constellation," Commodore Truxtun defeated a French frigate
early in 1799. Allegheny City, May, 1867.
To Jno. Bbovitn, Je.,
President Allegheny Library Society.
I>ear Sir : — Believing that an original document in the handwriting of the
author of the Declaration of Independence concerning a tragic event of early times
on the Ohio, about forty miles below our city, will be an acceptable relic for
preservation amongst the archives of the association over which you preside,
I enclose an autograph letter of Thoraas Jefferson to General Gibson, expressing
a wish to obtain " a minute history " of the murder of Logan's family, the Indian
chief, who made a most touching speech concerning the massacre, worthy of the
highest culture and civilization, reported in Jefferson's Notes of Virginia, of
which General Gibson was an auditor, and perfectly acquainted with the language
in which it was delivered, was the interpreter, being for some time a prisoner
and afterwards a trader among the Indians.
Of the authenticity of Logan's speech there is no doubt. More than sixty
years ago General Gibson, who was an intimate friend of my father, narrated the
circumstances under which Logan's speech was delivered, and affirmed its perfect
authenticity and entire correspondence with the original, which he had interpreted
at the time of its delivery. The letter referred to was retained by the daughter
and only child of General Gibson, with filial care, intermarried with Eev. Z.
Coston. She was a most exemplary lady. She died about four years ago in Pitts
burgh. But this is saying enough, and I remain.
Your octogenarian friend, W. Robinson.
Philadelphia, February 12th, '98.
Dear General: — Your favor of the 2d inst. is received. Should our session
be continued to a greater length than I expect, it would be a circumstance of
great pleasure to me to see you here, but I do not think we can continue here
much longer than the present month, as there is really nothing to do but to
receive information from our envoys at Paris. If that wear a peaceful aspect, as
I hope it will, we ought not to remain here a week longer for any thing which
we have to do. I must, therefore, trouble you to give me, by way of letter, the
information respecting Cresap and his party, and the murder of Logan's family.
It seems Logan has mistaken the title if not the person. I wish to get a minute his
tory of the whole transaction in order to correct or confirm that which has before
been given.

APPENDIX B.. 225
We are very anxious to get some information from our envoys in order to
know on what ground we are to stand with our former allies. They appear to
have established peace with all their continental neighbors and to be collecting
all their energies to invade England. Their objects seem to be to republicanize
her government, and to bring her power on the ocean within raore reasonable and
safe limits. I shall, with great pleasure, make myself useful to you here should anything
turn up in which I can do so. I shall thereby be discharging a duty of conscience
and at the same time of friendship. I ara, with sentiments of great esteem, dear
general, Your most obd. svt..

Th's Jefferson.

Gbn'l Gibson.

APPENDIX B.
MILITARY SERVICES OF COLONEL GEORGE GIBSON,
FATHER OF JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
24th Congress, (Rep. No. 345.)
1st Session. Ho. of Reps.
George Cribson, — Representatives qf
To accorapany Bill H. R. No. 355,
Feb. 17, 1836.
Mr. Muhlenberg, from the Committee on Revolutionary
Claims, made the following
REPORT :
The Committee on Revolutionary Claims, to which was referred
the petition of the legal representatives of Col. George Gibson,
deceased, reports :
Col. Gibson was a brave and meritorious ofiicer. He entered
the service of his country at the commencement of the Revolution ;
enlisted a hundred men at Pittsburgh, then under the jurisdiction
of Virginia; marched to Williamsburg, and was comraissioned a
captain in the Virginia line. Powder and lead becoming scarce,
the government of Virginia selected him as a person well quali
fied to conduct a secret negotiation with the Spanish government
for a supply. He was successful in procuring it, not only for the
State of Virginia, but engaged a resident merchant of eminence
29

226 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
(Oliver Pollock) to ship large quantities to the States in Spanish
vessels. On his return he was offered a pecuniary recompense or
promotion, and accepted the latter. He was accordingly appointed
colonel of the First Virginia Regiment.
With this regiment he continued, and was in all the seven
engagements in the North, subsequent to the battle of Germantown,
until 1781, when the regiment, being nearly annihilated, was
ordered to the South to recruit. He then became a supernumerary,
but was shortly afterward ordered to march the prisoners taken
with Cornwallis to York, in Pennsylvania, and they remained
under his charge until sent to England.
Col. Gibson's services did not, however, close with the Revo
lutionary war. In 1790 he was appointed by General Washing
ton a colonel of one of the regiments recruiting for General
St. Clair's army, and was ordered to the West to assist in the cam
paign against the northwest Indians. He fell on the fatal 4th of
November, 1791, sustaining the character for bravery and cool
ness which had ever distinguished him.
Col. Gibson's regiment was originally a State regiment.
About the 1st of June, 1777, it was ordered to the North, and
joined General Washington two days after the battle of German-
town (vide Washington's Letters, vol. 2, p. 180), and was placed
on continental establishment, in lieu of Matthews' regiment which
was taken by the enemy in that battle, by an act of the Virginia
legislature, in these words : " Be it enacted, that the battalion on
comraonwealth establishment, under the command of Col. George
Gibson, and now in the continental service, be continued in the
said service instead of the Ninth Virginia Regiment, made prison
ers in the battle of Germantown." This Act was never repealed.
Col. Matthews' regiment never resumpd its place in the line, and
Gibson's remained until 1781, when it was ordered home to
recruit. In addition to this proof of the character of the regiment, it
is proper to state that the war department decided on the 12th of
January, 1830, " that the regiment comraanded by Col. George
Gibson was a continental regiment from October, 1777." The
treasury department also so decided. In consequence of which

APPENDIX B. 227
the benefit of the Act of May 15th, 1828, applicable only to the
continental line, was extended to a number of individuals belong
ing to this regiment. Congress itself has viewed the regiment as
continental, having passed an Act allowing to the heirs of an ofii
cer belonging to that regiment " five years' full pay, with such
interest as would have accrued if a certificate had issued, and
been founded under the Act of 1790." ( Vide Act for the relief of
William Vawter's heirs, approved May 25th, 1832.)
By an Act of the State of Virginia of May, 1779, officers of
the continental and State line of Virginia were placed upou an
equal footing in regard to the bounty of the State, half pay for
life, and directed to look for recompense to the State ; provided
congre.ss did not make some tantamount provision for them. For
the State line congress did nothing ; but for the continental line
it made tantamount provision.
Owing in some measure to Gibson's regiment having been both
State and continental, its officers received neither half pay frora
Virginia nor commutation from the United States. In applying
to the State they were referred to the United States; and on
applying to the United States they were referred to the State.
By the Act of July 5th, 1832, the clairas of the Virginia
State line were directed to be liquidated and paid by that State.
In that Act the regiment of Col. Gibson was included, and his
legal representatives received a certain amount, but not equal to
the commutation paid to other officers of the same grade in conti
nental establishment, nor in proportion to what had been paid to
subalterns of the same regiment, for whose relief acts have been
passed by congress. The most important question in the whole
case seems to be, whether the regiraent really belonged to the con
tinental line proper. That such was the case the comraittee have
no doubt, and they believe that its colonel should be placed upon
an equally favorable footing with his subalterns. They think that
justice should be even-handed, and that the petitioners are entitled
to the same measure that others have received. A bill is accord
ingly reported for their relief.*
* The above was taken from a printed official copy of the report, in possession
of F. W. Gibson.

228 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
APPENDIX C.
GENERAL GEORGE GIBSON.
SKETCH OP THE LIFE OP GENERAL GEORGE GIBSON, LATE
COMMISSARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY,
BROTHER OF JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON — CONDENSED FROM
THE MEMOIR OF S. HORACE PORTER, ESQ., OF LANCASTER,
PA., SON OF THE LATE GOV. PORTER, OF PENNSYLVANIA,
AND BROTHER OF THE HON. WM. A. PORTER.
General Gibson entered the army on the 3d of May, 1808, as
captain in the Fifth Regiment of Infantry. On the same day
Lieutenant General Winfield Scott was commissioned captain of
light artillery. The association then formed by these gallant men
resulted in an uninterrupted friendship of over half a century's
duration. Appointed captain, fifty-three years ago, he recruited part of
his company in this city,* then the seat of government of Penn
sylvania. He was successively promoted to the majority of the
Seventh Infantry, 9th of November, 1811, and to the lieutenant
colonelcy of the Fifth Infantry, 15th of August, 1813. His ser
vices throughout the war of 1812 (so called) are a portion of his
country's history. Disbanded 15th of June, 1815, on the first
reduction of the army after the treaty of peace, he was commis
sioned quartermaster general, with the rank of colonel, on the
29th of April, 1816, and assigned to the southern division of the
army under Major General Andrew Jackson, then in the field
against the hostile Indians. On the 18th of April, 1818, he was
appointed commissary general of subsistence, which position he
held until his death. (How well he filled it let the army of his
country answer.) Brevetted brigadier general "for ten years'
faithful services," in the rank of colonel, 29th of April, 1826 ;
he received the additional brevet of major general "for meritorious
conduct, particularly in performing his duties in prosecuting the
war with Mexico," 30th of May, 1848.
* Lancaster, Pa.

APPENDIX C. 229
General Gibson died at Washington City, September 30, 1861,
full of years and full of honors, in perfect possession of all his
mental powers, and strong to the last in the ruling passion of his
soul — love of country. He was in his 87th year. A public
funeral was awarded him by coraraand of the Executive.* * *
No officer occupying the sarae rank in the army held a higher
place in the estimation of his fellow officers. It was delightful
to see the reverence with which they approached him, and the cour
teous yet familiar manner with which he made every man feel " at
home" with him. The senior exhibited the respect of a younger
brother, and the junior felt for him filial affection. There was a charm
in his manner that pleased both. He was the safe counsellor of the
one, while he was the readyadviser of the other in every trouble
or difficulty. His judgment was law, and his opinion, unless
disregarded, never failed to benefit those who sought and
obtained it.
Conducting for upwards of forty years one of the most
responsible departments of the array, the comraissariat, he felt that
the soldiers of that army were his children, and he provided as the
father of a family for their necessities. The slightest complaint
of the quality of their rations met at once an examination, and if
found just, was soon remedied. He knew what they required and
what was best for them, and it afforded him satisfaction to properly
gratify their wants. No government ever had a more perfect sys
tem for provisioning an army (scattered, too, as it necessarily was
over so wide a territory) than he inaugurated and successfully car
ried into effect. It was always in order, and its operations were
as regular as the habits of its chief.
Possessing extraordinary executive capacity, combined with a
rare judgment and sense of justice in the settlement of accounts,
which enabled him raore promptly to discriminate between right
and wrong, he resembled, in many powers of mind, his eminent
brother, the late John Bannister Gibson, for so many years the
chief justice of Pennsylvania, and her brightest legal ornament.
* President Lincoln came himself early to the house, and spoke feelingly of the
veteran soldier. General Gibson was the oldest officer in the United States army
at the time of his death, being several years older than General Scott, who sur
vived him.

230 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
His modesty was akin with his other great qualities, and all
uniting together, forraed the model officer, and the honest and
firm administrator.
The attachment felt for him and the confidence reposed in
him, by his old coraraander. General Jackson ("he who never
gave up a friend "), was fully reciprocated, and it was as brothers
that they coramuned together, during the eventful eight years
that the " stern old patriot " was president. No matter how much
the chief magistrate of the Union was engaged with business, the
moment that his old staff officer's narae was announced in the
ante-charaber, the raajor general who turned the tide of England's
victory at New Orleans was ready to receive and take by the
hand his fellow soldier and well-beloved friend. He often re
curred to those happy days, and regretted that when the " Old
Hero" left for his home in Tennessee, the strongest link in
friendship's chain was severed, for they never met again. No
longer was the Executive mansion to him the cheerful " half-way
house," with the " latch string out " smiling a ready welcome,
but the residence of the constitutional commander in chief of the
army of the United States.
But it was in the devotion of the brother and the uncle that the
fullness of his heart found vent. His two brothers, Frank, his
senior, and Bannister, his junior (for by these familiar names he
loved to speak of them), were his joy and his pride. It was his
melancholy duty to lay them both in the tomb, and although it
was granted them all to exceed the years allotted to man by the
Psalmist, yet to the last moment of their lives, they were as dear
to one another as when their heroic father fell fighting in defence
of his country's banner, and they gathered weeping around their
fond and widowed mother's knee. To the children and grand
children of these brothers, he was all that a human heart pulsat
ing with love and kindness could be.

Following is a copy of an autograph letter of General Jack
son's to General Gibson. Readers of Jackson's letters almost in
variably look for " Oil Korrect " in thera. This letter is given

APPENDIX C. 231
verbatim and will be found " O. K." with the exceptions of the
words " cartridges," " addition," " women " and " hostility," the
first of which he spells, as raost of the veterans of the war of 1812
pronounced it, viz., " catridges ;" " addition " simply lacks one "d ;"
and " until " has two " l's." Many official and private letters of
Jackson to his friend General Gibson conclusively disprove the
popular belief that he was illiterate. Headqitabtees before St. Maeks.
April 9, 1818.
Dear Colonel : — I wrote you yesterday, sending duplicates, one by a runner,
the other by Capt. McKeever, to which I refer you. In adition to the supply
of fifty thousand rations and corn ordered, in mine of yesterday I wish you to
send one hundred thousand catridges, if to be spared from the defense of Ft.
Gadsden, Colonel Lindsey has been ordered to accompany the supplies ordered
with the company of artillerists, brought on by himself, if he has not received it
you will coramunicate the order to him, to accompany these siipplies, and to
reach St. Marks with his command as early as possible, leaving Peters and
Colls companies to garrison Ft. Gadsden. If you have not sent for the 4,000
bushels of corn to New Orleans, or ordered, you will take the earliest oppor
tunity, to have it at Ft. Gadsden, by the period of our return to that post.
This is carried by one of those deluded wretches who have asked for peace
and it is granted thera, seventeen raen, eighteen weomen and thirty children have
surrendered, they ask permission to pass by water to Ft. Gadsden. This is
granted them and they will reraain here untill the runner returns by whom you
will write to the commanding officer of St. Marks, Capt. Vashon, under what
badge you will know them. I shall be happy to hear from you by return of the
runner. I hope that the campaign is approaching a happy terraination, I march
to-day for the Seewaney, and I hope with the smiles of heaven to put a close to
Indian and negro hostillity in this quarter.
I can hear nothing of Colonel Dyer, I wish him up, at this period of the
campaign he would be of very great service.
I ara yours respectfully,
CoL. G. Gibson, Andrew Jackson.
Q. M. General S. D.,
Fort Gadsden.
P. S. — You will cause the runner who hands you this to return as speedily
as you can despatch him, we have got in store a good supply of powder and balls
and lead, we want nothing but catridges or catridge paper. A. J.

232 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
APPENDIX D.
THE TOMB OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON.
EXTRACT FROM WOOD'S "PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
STAGE," WITH JUDGE GIBSON'S LETTER TO WOOD, AND
THE EPITAPH ON THE TOMB OF JOSEPH JEFFERSON.
" His grave remained for many years unmarked by the slightest
meraorial. The visitor to those grounds has often since been
attracted by a tasteful monuraent to his memory, without at all, it
is likely, knowing the history of its erection.
It is a source of great pleasure for me indeed to have an oppor
tunity of recording an act of humanity and feeling, which its
unostentatious author, I am sure, never recorded for himself. It
will be found in the following letter to me, by the late Chief Jus
tice Gibson, of Pennsylvania, a man whose great power of intel
lect, and who.se vast service in the administration of the judicial
affairs of Pennsylvania for raore than thirty years, have received
the homage of the profession everywhere throughout that State,
and along with his amiable, winning disposition in private and
social life, have very recently been the subject of one of the most
true, beautiful and eloquent effusions, ' warm, pure, and fresh,' by
his successor in office, that it has been my happiness to read.
Chief Justice Gibson's sensibilities and taste in the whole range
of the fine arts, music, architecture, painting, statuary, and the
drama, were hardly inferior to his uncomraon iutellectual parts.
He took the most lively interest in dramatic literature, and dra
matic representations generally, and as far as the requirements of
his high judicial station made it decorous, was a patron of our
theatrical representations, in those days of propriety and order,
when the theatre was a place through which even the judicial
ermine might pass, without the suspicion of having brought away
a soil or spot. His letter is as follows: Harrisburg, June 25, 1843.
My Dear Sir : — My brother Judge Rogers and myself design to lay a marble
slab over the remains of the late Mr. Jefferson in the Episcopal churchyard, at
this place, and we stand in need of information in respect of one or two particu-

APPENDIX D. 233
lars. Below you will flnd a copy of the contemplated inscription sketched by me
this morning. Might I request that you would note whatever is amiss in it, and
suggest any amendment of which it is susceptible. I think I am accurate in Mr.
Jefferson's baptismal name, but I am at a loss for the year of his death. His son,
or his daughter, Mrs. Chapman, if she still lives, could supply the deficiency, but
I know not where either of them are to be found.
I look back with great pleasure on the days when my relish for theatricals
had the freshness of youth, and when the stage was a classic source of its gratifi
cation. To the memory of Mr. Jefferson, who, with others, beguiled Judge
Rogers, myself, and the play-going public of many a heavy moment, we owe a
debt of gratitude which we are anxious to repay. I am aware that he and you
were separated in feeling at the close of his life. I am confident, however, that
you will aid us with whatever materials you possess.
I shall leave this place on Thursday, and will be thankful for your answer in
the meantime. Very truly, dear sir.
Your friend and servant,
John Bannister Gibson.
William B. Wood, Esq.

Beneath this marble
are deposited the ashes of
Joseph Jefferson,
an actor whose unrivaled powers
took in the whole range of comic character,
from pathos to soul-shaking mirth.
His coloring of the part was that of nature, warm, pure and fresh ; but of nature
enriched with the finest conceptions of genius.
He was a member of the Chestnut street theatre, Philadelphia,
in its most high and palmy days,
and the compeer
of Cooper, Wood, Warren, Francis,
and a long list of worthies,
who,
like himself,
are remembered with admiration and praise.
He was a native of England.
With an unblemished reputation as a man,
he closed a career of professional success,
in calamity and affliction,
at this place,
in the year 1832.
" I knew him, Horatio ; a fellow of infinite jest, and most excellent fancy."
30

234 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
I must here correct with the reader an idea which a rais-
taken irapression of the chief justice gives as to a fact. I did so
at once to hira. There was never at any time, on any subject, the
least estrangement between Mr. Jefferson and myself. On the
contrary, our personal not less than our professional intercourse
was, for thirty years or more, an unbroken circle of regard and
pleasure. It reraained so to the end of it."
Mr. Wood, on page 467 of his book, gives a very interesting
account of his last appearance and farewell address before the
public at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in November,
1846. Mr. Wood was then seventy years old, and the patrons of
this memorable farewell were among the raost highly esteemed
and distinguished citizens of Philadelphia. Of the hundred and
more of the coraraittee who signed the call, we find the naraes of
the Hon. George M. Dallas, president, and the vice presidents
were Chief Justice Gibson, Hon. J. R. Ingersoll, William Peters,
Coraraodore Charles Stewart, U. S. N., and William M. Meredith.
On the comraittee appear the naraes of Pierce Butler, Henry C.
Baird, David Paul Brown, Gen. George Cadwallader, Henry C.
Carey, Robert Hare, M. D., Hon. C. J. Ingersoll, Morton Mc-
Michael, Hon. E. Joy Morris, Josiah Randall, Williara Rawle,
and those of many other distinguished gentlemen. The next
raorning Judge Gibson remarked to the retired actor, " Wood, you
raay consider the exhibition last evening an unanimous certificate
of good character frora the citizens of Philadelphia."
Apropos of Judge Gibson's interest in the drama generally,
and great actors personally, his son. Col. George Gibson, Fifth
Infantry, U. S. A., a few months before his death sent to the
writer the following characteristic story :
" Messrs. Michael and Patrick Ward (forraerly caterers for
the old United States Hotel in Philadelphia, during the proprie
torship of that very estimable gentleman Pope Mitchell, and who
afterwards becarae the proprietors of the La Pierre House on
Broad street) used to relate with considerable gusto the following
in relation to Chief Justice Gibson :
" ' The old chief,' as he was familiarly referred to by his ac-

APPENDIX D. 235
quaintauces, had been for many years the guest of the United
States Hotel during the sessions of the Supreme Court held in
that city, and it was while stopping there that he became ac
quainted with so many prominent actors.
" One stormy winter night, the chief justice having returned
from the theatre, according to his custom seated himself in the
office near a large stove for the purpose of warming hiraself before
retiring, and was soon surrounded by quite a party of young law
yers frora the rural districts, to whora he was well known, and
with thera he engaged in conversation. The subject of his re
marks naturally turned to the play which he had just witnessed,
and during the course of his remarks he expatiated at some length
upon the drama generally, and on various distinguished actors,
both living and dead, whom it had been his good fortune to see,
some of whom he had known personally, and of whom he related
several anecdotes in his most felicitous style. Finally, warming
with the subject, he exclaimed :
" ' But, gentlemen, there is one actor of the present day whose
fkme is world wide, who as a delineator of Falstaff has had no
superior since the days of the English actor Warren, and yet I
have never had the pleasure of seeing him. ,1 mean, of course,
our distinguished Hackett.'
"At this moment the Chestnut street door opened with a bang,
and in stalked a tall figure, his feet encased in huge buffalo over
shoes, his body wrapped to the throat in a shaggy overcoat, his
head covered with a muskrat-skin cap, and several yards of red
worsted comfort wound around his neck. A boarder on the opposite
side of the circle from the judge happened to notice the entrance of
the new-comer, and nodding his head as he approached, saying :
'How do do, Hackett?' and resumed the attitude of listening.
Immediately the chief justice rose to his feet, and turning quickly
around exclaimed : ' Can it be possible that I have at length
the pleasure of being face to face with Mr. Hackett ?'
" Vainly endeavoring to get hold of the hand of the new-comer,
who commenced backing away from him in the most awkward
manner, bowing and scraping his right foot, as well as tugging
away at his forelock, the chief justice added, ' Permit rae to in
troduce mvself, sir ; I am Chief Justice Gibson ; have I not the

236 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
pleasure of addressing Mr. Hackett of the stage ?' Whereupon
the apparition in woolen replied : ' May it plaze yer Honor, not
adzactly Mr. Hackett of the stage, bnt Mr. Hackett of the omni
bus. I drive omnibus on Chestnut street, and its many a time I
have driven you to the old Independence Hall to hould the
Supreme Court; I gist stopped in a bit to get a little warrura.
"A hearty roar greeted this remark, in which the judge joined
after he fairly realized the situation, but which left hirn in no
frame of mind to discourse on Shakespeare and the delineators of
his characters."

APPENDIX E.
JUDGE GIBSON'S POEM.
Sorae tirae after the preparation of the remarks prefacing the
poem attributed to Judge Gibson, authoritative information was
received from Mr. John Bannister Gibson Roberts which re
moves every doubt as to its authorship.
Among Judge Gibson's lady friends was the accomplished and
beautiful Anna Rickey, second wife of the late Solomon W.
Roberts (a distant relative of the late W. Milnor Roberts), for
merly superintendent and chief engineer of the Ohio and Pennsyl
vania railroad (now the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne apd Chicago
railroad), and later of the North Pennsylvania railroad.
Mrs. Soloraon W. Roberts II will no doubt be remembered
by many in Pittsburgh, as well as by many in Philadelphia.
Her beauty was something remarkable, her bearing distinguished,
and her movements the erabodiraent of grace, while her manner
had that charming naivete to which her accent added a suggestion
of the French. Owing, however, to the retiring disposition of
her husband, her life in the " CoUonade," or Robinson Row, on
Federal street, Allegheny, was quite secluded, for seldom did her
presence grace the social gatherings of those who would liked to
have become her intimate friends. She really had but one inti
mate in Pittsburgh, and that one was Judge Gibson's daughter,
Mrs. W. Milnor Roberts. Late in 1851, shortly before her mar-

APPENDIX E. 237
riage to Solomon Roberts, Miss Rickey published a volume of
poems of 150 pages, entitled "Forest Flowers ofthe West," and
marked one copy : " Presented to Chief Justice Gibson by the
Author, 1852." Immediately after his marriage to Miss Rickey,
Mr. Roberts bought up the entire edition and destroyed it, a very
few copies, which had been presented by the authoress before her
marriage, alone escaping his vigilant search.
It was in compliance with the request of the poetess, Mrs.
Anna Rickey Roberts, that Judge Gibson made his first and last
attempt in rhyme.
In 1854, the year following the judge's death, Mrs. S. W., in
calling on her friend, Mrs. W. Milnor Roberts, on Stockton ave
nue, Allegheny, was shown by the latter the volume of her poems
she had given the judge. Picking it up she wrote under her
original dedicatory note the following touching lines to the memory
of her deceased friend :
" This book goes from my hand again.
But not to thee, oh, not to thee.
And I recall with bitter pain
That thou art but a memory.
" But still a memory so sweet.
Of kindly looks and words of cheer.
The living glances that I meet
Are not more cherished, not more dear."
The poetess has long been dead, so also is her husband " but a
memory," but a sense of justice, not simply poetic justice, but in
equity, it is demanded, that what she did for the judge after his
death should be done for her after her death through the agency
of a descendant, in fact a namesake of the jurist. Judge Gibson
marked "fine" at the end of one of her poems; it is therefore
selected for reproduction, though not specially indicative of her
style.
A VISION.
When the cooling breeze of even waved the branches to and fro.
And the stars, like guardian angels, watched the sleeping world below,
I leaned upon the casement, with my head upon my hand.
And sent my restless spirit to the realms of fancy-land.

238 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
Upon the thick and moveless air rolled a deep funereal bell.
Till the firm rocks heaved and trembled with the thunder of its knell ;
Keeping time to its solemn tolling, a ghastly train went by,
Of shadowy forras, that slowly passed before my straining eye.
And my wondering spirit recognized its half-forgotten dead.
With the dust of the tomb upon each brow, whence the living bloom had fled ;
And a sudden terror through my soul a fearful shudder sent —
Eternity might ask of me the bright ones tirae had lent.
One passed me, with her pallid brow encircled by a wreath.
But a serpent bound her temples the withered leaves beneath ;
And one swept proudly by me, her dark eyes bright with ire.
And flung, in anger, at my feet, a broken, chordless lyre.
And one gazed at me raournfuUy, with eyes all dim and meek.
And with her tresses strove to hide a stain on lip and cheek ;
One hand clasped a fair rose-bud, but she pressed the leaves apart.
And I saw a fearful canker feeding on the withering heart.
And some went empty-handed, with listless step and slow,
Murmuring over idle thoughts, with voices faint and low ;
Thoughts that crushed their young lives recklessly with their gift of glorious
powers —
Oh, never may my soul again behold its murdered hours.
With hands clasped close together, in vain I strove to speak.
But the effort only ended in an agonizing shriek ;
Then fading from my vision, rolled the strange and shadowy land —
I was leaning on the casement, with my head upon my hand.

APPENDIX F.
AN UNPUBLISHED OPINION.
The manuscript of the following opinion by Judge Gibson has
been contributed by George Gibson McClure, a grandson of the
deceased jurist. It was found among some letters of his grand
father's. It is in Judge Gibson's clear, small hand, occupying less
than three and a half pages of unruled foolscap, on which was left
a blank border measuring almost two inches wide. It is endorsed
on the back : "Patton vs. Newell, use of Rankin. Opinion of J.
B. G. 24 June, 1822. Gibson delivered opinion of the court."
Beneath is written in a strange hand, "Not reported."
A peculiarity of Judge Gibson's writing is that the i's are very

APPENDIX F. 239
rarely dotted ; the only exception in this lengthy paper is in the
case of names of persons, such as Miller, Brailey, etc. Neverthe
less his writing is easily read. Another peculiarity is the
straightness and parallelism of his lines. If by chance his first
line was not parallel with the sheet he never attempted to rectify
the alignment. At a later period his handwriting became even
more perfect, and rarely did he erase or interline, and never
copied his writing. But to the last he neglected to dot his i's.
Patton vs. Newell, use qf Rankin.
It is necessary to inquire what was the mischief intended to be
remedied by this particular provision of the Act of 1810. In
all the preceding Acts on the subject, although the jurisdiction of
the common law courts was preserved, there was an evident desire
to draw all the business that was indifferently cognizable by either
jurisdiction to that of the justices of the peace ; and it was accord
ingly enacted that any person who should bring suit in court for
a demand cognizable by a justice of the peace should recover no
costs, unless, before the issuing of the writ, he had filed an affi
davit with the prothonotary, that his demand exceeded the juris
diction of the justice.
But before the passing of the present Act it had been held in
Brailey vs. Miller, (a) 2 Dall., 74, that a plaintiff in court, whose
demand had been reduced to an araount within the limit of a jus
tice's jurisdiction, by set off, was nevertheless entitled to costs ; and
for this satisfactory reason : He could not sue before a justice
because the defendant might, by refusing to set off his cross deraand,
oust the justice of the jurisdiction ; and he could not make the
set off in the defendant's favor nolens volens so as to bind him in
another suit ; while on the other hand he could swear with a safe
conscience that his demand was beyond the jurisdiction of a jus
tice ; because in equity and good conscience only the balance is
demandable as the debt actually due.
What, then, was he to do ? The courts were compelled to treat
the case as an exception, and to allow the costs. This point was
more fully considered in Sadler vs. Slobaugh, (b) 3 Sergt. & Rawle,
383, to which I refer those who are desirous of pursuing the mat-

240 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
ter further. The legislature, with the decision in Brailey and
Miller before them when they carae to pass the Act of 1810, pro
vide that "A defendant who shall neglect or refuse in any case to
set off his deraand, whether founded on bond, note, penal or single
bill, writing obligatory, book account, or daraages on assumption
against a plaintiff, which shall not exceed the sum of one hundred
dollars, before a justice of the peace, shall be, and is hereby for
ever barred from recovering against the party plaintiff by any after
suit." Now I recollect that the chief aim in this provision was to
remove every pretext for resorting to the ordinary courts in the
first instance, by corapelling the defendant to set off his deraand
at all events. But still a plaintiff could not sue with safety before
a justice for a deraand exceeding a hundred dollars if the defend
ant might, after the suit was brought, and before the trial, avoid
the set off by assigning his counter claira to a third person ; he
would experience the old embarrassment in making choice of the
proper tribunal, and the advantage of being able to proceed with
out hazard on either hand, would not, as intended, be secured to
him. It would be of little practical importance that the defend
ant should be bound to default what continued to be matter of
cross demand till the tirae of the trial, if he were not bound to
default what was a cross demand when the plaintiff" made his election
of the tribunal ; for it is iu reference only to the latter that the
right to exact a set off is of the least value. The indorsee of a
defendant after suit brought would, therefore, hold the note subject
to the right of the plaintiff, which attached to the service of the
writ, and would be barred unless the indorser had some other
cross demand remaining in his hands sufficient to extinguish the
plaintiff's claims, and to which right of set off attached. How far
the case might be affected by want of notice to the assignee is not
the question ; nor am I at present prepared to decide it, if it
were. Where the plaintifi''s demand exceeds the jurisdiction of a jus
tice, these considerations, I think, will appear conclusive as to the
true construction of this part of the Act. It does not appear from
the record whether Patton's demand in the suit against Irvine was

Appendix F. 241
for more than a hundred dollars or not ; and as the judge laid
down as a rule applicable to all cases, that a defendant may rightly
assign at any time before the trial, the direction was erroneous on
the ground just stated. But I ara far from thinking that any dis
tinction was intended where the plaintiff's demand should be
originally cognizable by a justice. The language of the section
is positive and general ; and it would, therefore, require a strong
reason to justify a particular construction of it as applicable to
one case, and a different construction as applicable to another. No
such reason, however, exists. It could not have escaped the notice
of the legislature, that nothing operates more powerfully as a pre
disposing cause of litigiousness than the providing of ready raeans
for its gratification. They intended to render justice raore easy of
access, but not to foster a spirit of litigation. While suitors were,
on the one hand, relieved from the hardship of being obliged
either to pursue for a small demand, under the burden of great
delay and considerable expense, or abandon it altogether, they were,
on the other, required to settle their disputes under the jurisdiction
provided, with as much dispatch, as little vexation, and as few
suits as possible.
This requisition would be attended with but little practical
effect, if a defendant who should be disposed to reserve his demand
for purposes of annoyance in a second action, were perraitted to
assign it after the writ had been served on him. A defendant is
not permitted to set off a demand which he has acquired after the
commenceriient of the suit ; and I see no reason why the converse
should not hold with respect to his supposed power to evade the
right of the plaintiff to exact it where the set off may be made.
No hardship results from this construction. A defendant's prop
erty cannot be locked up in his possession by it either to any con
siderable amount, or for any considerable time. If the demand
which he has against the plaintiff exceeds the jurisdiction of the
justice, he is not bound to reserve it at all. If he has a variety of
demands, each of which is within the jurisdiction of the justice,
he is bound to reserve only as much as is sufficient to extinguish
the plaintiff's claim ; and an assignee of the rest will hold it dis
charged, and succeed against the plaintiff in a suit on such cause
31

242 JOHN BANNISTER GIBSON.
of action, if he can show that the assignor had enough in his
hands at the time of his trial to have extinguished the plaintiff's
claim, if he had chosen to default it ; for the law will make the
application against the assignor rather than against the assignee for
a valuable consideration, who has an equity against the assignor in
this respect.
Whether, therefore, a defendant having enough in his hands to
extinguish the plaintiff's claim, uses it as a set off or not, is imma
terial ; the law makes the application for him, and the claim of
each is respectively an extinguishment of that of the other. Then,
as respects the sum actually reserved, the time during which it is
thus locked up is inconsiderable; law suits before justices being,
in the usual course, determined within a few days from their
comraencement ; so that the inconvenience can, in any view,
scarcely be felt as a hardship.
It is said, however, that Irvine himself being an indorsee could
not have set off this note in the action before Justice Moore, there
having been no previous dealings directly between the parties, and
therefore no mutuality. I see no force in that. The question does
not arise on the Defalcation Act (if happily the argument would be
available if it did) but on the Act giving jurisdiction to justices
for demands not exceeding one hundred dollars, the words of which
are very large, and embrace every demand, " founded on bond, note,
penal or single bill, writing obligatory, book account, or damages
on assumption." Now, the indorsee of a note certainly has a
demand founded on it. But even if the case did not fall within
the express letter, yet as the Act is remedial in this respect, I
would be disposed to construe it liberally in advancement of the
remedy. Judgment reversed, and a venire de novo awarded.

INDEX.

A
PAGE.
Adair, Jaraes  35
Adair, S. Dunlap  96
Agnew, Chief Justice Daniel, Letter from 76
Agnew, Dr. J. Holmes  35
Agnew, Dr. Sarauel  35
Agassiz, Prof. Louis  56
Alexander, Gen. John Byers  38
Alexander, Samuel  96
Allison, Judge  204
Anderson, Gen. Eichard H., Sketch of. . 95
Anderson, Sallie (Sarah), daughter of
Judge Gibson  95, 199

Baird, Henry C  234
Barre, Colonel  25
Banister, Col  32
Bertram, Elizabeth  44
Beatty, John W. (artist)  65
Bernheisel, Hon. John  28
Bell, Judge Thos. S  88
Bell, T. S.. Esq  207
Bigler, Gov. John  28
Bigler, Gov. William  28
Binney, Horace, Esq  129, 207, 217
Blaine, Hon. Jaraes G. His memory of
naraes and faces— note  81
Black, Hon. Chauncey F  177
Black, Judge Jeremiah S., 43 ; first meet
ing with Gibson, 80 ; inscription of
Judge Gibson's monument, by, 97 ;
Eulogy of Gibson, 100-107 ; refer
ence to, 136; notice of Porter's
Essav on Judge Gibson, by. .173 to 177
Black, Sam'l W., Esq. Sketch of.  211
Black, Eev. John  211
Biddle, William M., Esq  71, 96, 97, 214
Biddle, Edward M  97

PAGB.
Brackenridge, Judge H., Kindness of,
to Judge Gibson, 41 ; tomb of, 96 ;
notice of  127, 214
Brown, David Paul, Esq., Bemarks
of  204,234
Brown, John, Letter to  224
Brownson, Bev. J. 1  33
Budd, T. A., Esq  207
Brodhead, Col  15
Braddock's Expedition  13
Brooke, Matthew  1 23
Brady, Joseph  36
Bonham, J. E., Esq., 97 ; remarks of.. . .215
Buchanan, Andrew  36
Buchanan, President James. Gradua
tion from college, 40 ; amusing in
cident of, 74-75 ; birthplace of.  182
Bull, Eev. Levi  36
Burnside, Judge Thomas, Notice of, 49 ;
last illness of.  87
Burnside, Judge James, Death of  88
Butler, Major  22
Butler, Pierce  234

Cadwallader, J  205, 234
Callender, Eobert  12
Cameron, Hon. Simon, Letter from, 95;
electioneers for Gibson  137
Carey, Henry C  234
Carnahan, E. B., Esq. (Mr. Carnahan
died July 4th, 1890.)  141
Campbell, Judge Thoraas  136
Chapman, Judge  45
Christy, James M., Esq  94
Clark, Eev. Joseph, Eeview of Porter's
Essay, by  179 to 201
Classmates of Judge Gibson  35 to 38
Clay, Henry  47

244

INDEX.

PAGE.
Cist, Jacob  45
Cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh  89
Coulter, Judge Richard  87, 136
Cohen, J. S  205
Cooper, John  36
Cooper, Eobert  36
Cooper, Judge Thomas  122, 123, 124
Crane, Theodore  93
Crumrine, Hon. Boyd, 39 ; letter from. . 82
Cunningham, John W  123
Coston, Eev. Z. H...  221
Cresap, Captain Michael  222
D
Dallas, Hon. George M  234
Dallas, Hon. J. M  205
Denny, Harmar  26, 38
Denny, Dr. Williara H  18
De Vinez, Elizabeth, Judge Gibson's
grandraother  12
Deraooratic Review, Article frora  42, 73
Dora Pedro II  56, 93
Duncan, Judge Thoraas, Gibson's pre
ceptor, 40 ; tomb of, 96 ; notice
of  111,114,214
Downey, Dr. Williara  36
Dunmore, Lord, war  16, 222
E
Ege, Michael  44
Egle, William Henry. Eeference to his
" Penn'a Genealogies "  44
Ellmake.', Elias  35
Elective tTudiciary  134
Epitaph on Gibson's monuraent by Judge
Black  97
Epitaph on President Nisbet's monument
by Judge Gibson  110
Epitaph on Judge Duncan's monument,
by Judge Gibson  112
Epitaph on Joseph Jefierson's monument,
by Judge Gibson, Appendix  233
Elliott, E. S  223
Extract from U. S. Law Magazine  217
F
Pell, Judge  45
Fetterman, Gilbert L. B., Esq  166
Fetterman, W. W., Esq  208
Floyd, John C  35
Fox, Chas. H  32
Foster, Hon. H. D  210
Poster, Dr. Alfred  96
Fowler, Prof. O. S. (phrenologist)  48

PAGE.
Franklin, Benjamin  13, 48
Funeral of Judge Gibson  96
Forward, Judge Walter  210

Gibson, John Bannister. Birth of, Nov.
8th, 1780, 27 ; notice of his mother,
25 to 30 ; the name Bannister, 32 ;
enters college, 33 ; classmates, notices
of, 34 to 38 ; Latin verses of, 39 ; ad
mitted to the bar, 115; notice of, in
Democratic Review, 42 ; marriage of,
43 ; first case before the Supreme
Court, 118; as a legislator, 45, 121,
124; appointraent as judge ofthe
eleventh district, 45, 125 ; appointed
to the supreme bench, 1 27 ; resi
dence in Sunbury, 46 ; as a Mason,
46, 48; incident of, at Henry Clay's
party in Washington, 46 ; Gibson's
and Webster's heads corapared in
regard to size, 47 ; social life in Car
lisle, 51 to 55; religious preferences
and convictions, 54, 170, 171, 198,
199 ; receives degree of LL. D., 134;
compared with Dom Pedro II, 56;
style corapared with John Foster's,
193; mechanical ingenuity, 57;
knowledge of dentistry, 57-58 ; ab
sent miniiedness, foot note, 161 ; with
Judge Eogers, erects a monument to
the actor Jefferson, 59 (see also Ap
pendix, 232) ; musical, artistic and
poetical abilities, 61 to 67 (see poem
of, 67, and Appendix, 236 ) ; knowledge
of geology, foot note, 166 ; as a
physician, 86 ; description of Wash
ington's appearance, by, 68 ; personal
estate of, 69; his salary as a judge,
167 ; arausing incident of, in con
nection with James Buchanan, 74;
friendship for Judge Black, 80 ;
knowledge of the French language,
»6 ; letters to his wife, 89 ; children
and grandchildren of, 92-96 ; death
of, in Philadelphia, May 3d, 1853,
97 ; funeral of, in Carlisle, 97 ;
Judge Black's inscription for his
monuraent, 97 ; Eiof Laws settled
by, 143 ; Presbyterian Church case,
decision by, 142,189; last reported
opinion by, 168; unpublished opinion
by  238
Gibson, '^ol. George, father of Judge
Gibson, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19 ; services
during revolutionary war, see Ap
pendix, 225 ; death of  24

INDEX.

245

PAGE.
Gibson, George, grandfather of Judge
Gibson  10, 12, 13
Gibson, General John, uncle of Judge
Gibson, birth, 12; translator message
of Indian Chief Logan, 16 ; see also
sketch of. Appendix  225
Gibson, General George, U. S. A., brother
of Judge Gibson. Eecollections of,
11, 12; anecdotes, etc., 72-74; sketch
of, see Appendix  228
Gibson, Francis West, brother of Judge
Gibson  27, 29, 72
Gibson, William Chesney, brother of
Judge Gibson  30
Gibson, Col. George, son of J. B. G., 12 ;
sketch of, 94 ; letter from. Appendix, 234
Gibson, John Bannister, Jr., son of J. B.
G  39, 92
Gibson, Francis West, Jr., nephew of J.
B. G  32, 64, 227
Galbreath, James  44
Galbreath, Sarah, Judge Gibson's
wife  43, 46, 77
Galbreath, Col. Andrew  44
Gaullager, Hugh, Esq  96, 97, 213
Getty, Gen. George, U. S. A  93
Graham, Hon. James H  96
Grayson, Alfred M  35
Greason, James D  36
Gustine, Dr. James  36
Guthrie, Rev. James  36
Graham, Thomas  123
Grier, Judge  204
Greathouse, Daniel  222
Gerry, Elbridge  223
H
Hall, Charles  44
Hare, Eobert, M. D  234
Hamilton, Governor  10, 11
Hamilton, William  223
Hancock, James  45
Hayes, Dr. George  36
Haston, Dr. Eobert  37
Hendle, Dr. George (dentist)  58
Hampton, John H., Esq  76
Henderson, E. M., Esq  97
Holgate, Jacob  123
Houston, Judge Charles  129
Humbird, Jacob  94
Hunt, Dr. Henry  94
Holmes, Dr. Thompson  36
HoUenbach, Judge  45
I
Insurrection, Western, 1794  13, 17, 68
Ingersoll, C. J  205, 234

Irvine, General Williara  14, 16, 17, 18
Irvine, Wm. McNeil  35, 44
Irwin, Judge Thomas, Eemarks of, and
sketch of  209
Ingraham, E. D., Esq., Eemarks of. . . .206
J
Jackson, Gen. Andrew. Intimacy with
Gen. George Gibson, 72; see also
Appendix  230
Jefferson, Thoraas, 16; letter from  224
Jefferson, Joseph (actor). Monument to,
by Judges Gibson and Eogers, 59;
see also Appendix  232
Jefferson, Joseph (the younger). Interest
ing incident of  60
.Johnson, Sir William  16
Jasper, Sergeant  64
K
Kane, John E., Esq  207
Keenan, Thos. J., Esq., 173; correspond
ence of (foot note 1  177
Kelso, Dr  44
Kilbourne, Hon. Ira  49
Kingston, Michael  25
King, William  35
Knight, Joshua  37
L
Latin verses  40
Logan, the Indian Chief, 16 ; " Logan's
speech,"  222
Lind, Jenny  62
Lewis, Judge Ellis  99, 136, 204
Lowrie, Chief Justice Walter H., born
1806, died Nov. 14th, 1876  99
Lear, Fanny  37
Lichliter, Eev. M. D., Sketch of John
Gibson by  220
Lincoln, President  229
M
Mitchell, Judge James T. Letter from,
32 ; notice of.  48, 177
Mitchell, Eoss  25
Mitchell, Rev. William F  37
Murray, Rev. James A., Letter from
(Mr. Murray died in Carlisle, Nov.
27th, 1889)  33
Miller, Wm. H., Esq  97
Miller, Matthew  44
Morse, Eev. J. B  97
Moore, W. D., Esq  82

246

INDEX.

Mallory, G., Esq  207
Morris, Hon. Sam'l W  49
Morris, Hon. E. Joy  234
Murphy, Lieut  18
Mercer, Gen. Hugh  20
Marshall, John,  223
Mingo Massacre  18
Metcalf, Orlando, Esq  90, 91
Meredith, Wm. M., Esq  207
Martin, Ralph  35
Metzgar, George, Esq  34, 35
Mitchell, Pope  234
More, John  35
Morrow, G. W  35
Monroe, President James  12
Masonic history of Judge Gibson  48
Mercur, Chief Justice Ulysses  100, 151
McCleave, Johns, Esq  140
McClure, Mrs. Margaretta Gibson,
daughter of J. B. G., 26 ; recollec
tions of her father  84, 87, 92
McClure, Col. Chas. (congressman) . .84, 92
McClure, Col. Chas., U. S.A., Letter
from, 84; letter frora  199
McClure, Judge Wra. B., 92,208; ad
dress of, 212 ; sketch of  212
McClure, George Gibson  238
McKnight, Eobert  38
McMakin, A., Esq  67
McDonald, Alexander  30
McClelland, Prof.  82
McGinley, Rev. Amos A  37
McKean, Chief Justice Thomas. . . .100, 151
McCandless, Hon. Wilson, Remarks of
and sketch of  208, 211
McMichael, Hon. Morton  234

N

Nevin, Rev. A., Sketch of Judge Gibson
by, 53 ; notice of Judge Duncan by, 111
Nisbet, Chas., D. D., Notice of, by Judge
Gibson  109-110

Poem, by Judge Gibson, 67 ; also  236
Paintings, by J. B. G  63
Porter, Judge Wm. A., 10, 59, 61, 66, 79 ;
selections from essay by, 109 ; assists
Judge Gibson at nominating con
vention  135
Porter, J. Horace, 109 ; his memoir of
General George Gibson  228
Peters, William  234
Penrose, Chas. B  204
Penrose, Wm. M., Esq  71, 97

PAGE.
Pollock, Oliver  .226
Pitcher, " Molly"  96
Proudfit, Rev. Robert  37
Parker, J. B., Esq., Eemarks of  216
Parker, Samuel  44
Perkins, Samuel  48
Personal Estate of J. B. G  69
Pulaski, Count  64
Presbyterian Church case  142, 189
Pinckney, Chas  223
R
Rainey, William H  37
Randall, Josiah, Esq  205, 234
Rapp, Mr. George, President of Econo
mite Society, Incident of  71
Rawle, Wm., Esq  205, 234
Reynolds, John  44
Eeigart, Adam  11
Read, J. M., Esq  204
Eeed, Hon. John  96
Eea's Incidents  ^  14
Richardson, Chief Justice  65
Richards, Jaraes  35
Ritchie, William  37
Ritner, Governor Joseph  100, 130, 164
Ross, Hon. Jaraes  96
Robinson, General William, 69 ; letter
from, Appendix  223
Rogers, Judge Moulton C, 59, 69, 129,142, 165
Rodgers, Wm. B., Esq  140
Roberts, W. Milnor, C. E., 55 ; sketch of,
93 ; letter to, from J. B. G  131
Roberts, John Bannister Gibson  94, 236
Roberts, William Milnor, Jr., Letter
from  62
Roberts, Solomon W., C. E  236
Rickey, Anna, Poem by  237
S
Spiedel, Elias  70
Slow, Capt. Jacob  12
Snyder, Governor, appoints Judge Gib
son to the eleventh district  45, 122
Siedle, Bishop  17
Sappiogton, John  18
St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, Defeat of  22
Smiley, Hon. Chas. H., Address of  27
Super, Prof.  33
Sweitzer, Gen. J. Bowman  81
Shannon, Hon. Peter C, Remarks of
and sketch of  210
Shannon, John R., Esq  77
Shaler, Judge Charles, 78 ; remarks of
and sketch of  207
Sharpe, A. B., Esq  97

INDEX.

247

PAGE.
Stevens, Hon. Thaddeus. Address in
meraoriam of Judge Gibson  99
Stowel, Lord. Style compared with J. B.
G.'s  102
Silliman, Prof.  166
Sharpless, Dr. J. T., Letter from  167
Stewart, Hon. John, Letter from  180
Stewart, Coraraodore Chas., U. S. N  234
Stanton, Edwin M  207
Schultz, Governor  129
T
Taney, Judge Roger B  40, 76
Tilghman, Chief Justice Williara (died
April 30th, 1827)  100, 129
Tod, Judge John  130
Todd, Lemuel, Esq., Remarks of.  215
Troubat's Work on Limited Partnership,
Review of, by J. B. G  169
Thompson, Judge  205
Truxtun, Commodore, U. S. N  224
V
Value, M. (teacher)  86
Vethake, Prof.  123
W
Wallace, George  221
Wallace, John William  25
Washington, George, 15, 21 ; Judge Gib
son's description of  68

PAGE.
Ward, Townsend  13, 14
Watts, Hon. Frederick (Judge Watts
died in Carlisle, August 17th, 1889,
aged, 88 years)  44, 55, 212, 216
Watts, David, father of Frederick  96
Waugh, John  37
West, Francis  13, 25
West, Ann, J. B. G.'s mother  25
West, Edward  25
West, William  25
West, Sir Benjamin (artist)  25, 63
Webster, Daniel, Incident of  47
Williams, Judge Henry W., of Tioga,
Letter from  48
Williams, Judge Henry W., of Pittsburgh,
Anecdote of. (Judge Williams born
Jan. 21, 1816, died Feb. 19, 1877.). . 78
Williams, Hon. Thomas, Remarks of
and sketch of  211
Wilson, David L., Esq  39
Wilson, Rev. Henry R  37, 44
Wharton, T. J., Esq  207
White, Bishop, of Philadelphia, Incident
of  31, 36
Wilkins, Hon. William (born Dec. 20th,
1779, died June 23d, 1865)  44
Wood, Williara B. (actor)  59, 165, 232
Wright, Rev. John  37
Wynne, Owen  25
Y
Yates, Capt. George W  94

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