Source:Fleming-jurist
George T. Fleming. "Famous jurist and orator honored: Wilson McCandless' name preserved locally in street township and lodge: Notes on fine man." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Nov. 12, 1916, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85413176.
M'CANDLESS avenue in the old Eighteenth Ward, now the Tenth, extends from Stanton avenue to the Allegheny River. The name is applied also to the public school at McCandless avenue and Butler street. These commemorations honor a distinguished Pittsburgher, Wilson McCandless, for many years judge of the United States District Court for Western Pennsylvania, father of the late Stephen C. McCandless, long and favorably known as an offcial [sic] of the Dollar Savings Bank, and previously clerk in his father's court.
Not only is the paternal name of the latter commemorated here, but his mother's family name as well, for we have Collins avenue in East Liberty in honor of Thomas Collins, one of Pittsburgh's first attorneys and grandfather of Stephen Collins McCandless.
These given names are familiar to most Pittsburghers, when a native Pittsburgher world famed is mentioned—Stephen Collins Foster.
Was a Practicing Attorney.
We once had Collins township, comprising the former Eighteenth and Nineteenth Wards of Pittsburgh, now split up into the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Wards, and comprising all that territory north of present Penn avenue to the Allegheny River, including much of the Allegheny cemetery and all the Morningside and Highland Park districts, also that part of Homewood north of Penn avenue.
Before and during the first years of the Civil War, Judge McCandless resided in the city—downtown we used to say. Penn avenue from Wayne street, now Tenth street, to Marbury street, now Barbeau, old Third street, was a residence street, and Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth avenues, also the latter above Smithfield street mainly. Old dwellings changed into stores, and many unchanged, stand today in their dinginess and decay, grim reminders of days when the elite of the town dwelt in them.
Judge McCandless lived in those days in Fourth avenue above Smithfield street, a practicing attorney, with his office in his dwelling. In 1860 he moved to Collins township, old directories stating, "residence Sharpsburg Plank road, near Lawrenceville," and "house McCandless Station, A. V. R. R., near Lawrenceville."
The Allegheny Valley Railroad had been completed to Kittanning and McCandless Station was about the foot of the present McCandless avenue, adjoining the judge's mansion. This house was destroyed by fire in 1877. Judge McCandless had owned this ground from 1844 and had resided in that beautiful suburban district in the summers for a number of years previous to making it his permanent home.
Log House Called a Castle.
The mansion was rebuilt and the family continued to reside there. Judge McCandless owned much land in the vicinity. He called his home "Alliquippa," in honor of the Indian queen. of George Washington's days about Pittsburgh. The ground was historic, for it was part of George Croghan's holdings when he was the deputy agent of Indian affairs at Fort Pitt under Sir William Johnson previous to the Revolution. Croghan's "hutte" as he spelled it—castle, as the frontiersmen called it—once stood close to the McCandless home site.
This Croghan structure of logs was so pretentious that it was dubbed a castle. Here Washington was dined and feted in 1770 when he made his fourth trip to Pittsburgh and voyaged down the Ohio to examine his lands on the Kanawha River.
Washington records in his journal:
"October 18th—dined at the fort with Col. Croghan and the officers of the garrison; supper there also, meeting with great civility from the gentlemen and engaged to dine the next day with Col. Crogan at his seat, about four miles up the Allegheny."
The original Croghan "hutte" was burned by the Indians during the Pontiac war when Fort Pitt was besieged so long by the Indians led by Guyasutha and other noted chiefs, the siege relieved by Col. Henry Bouquet after his defeat of the savages at Bushy Run, near the present town of Manor.
Indian Guide for Washington.
Washington records under date of October 19 that he received a message from Col. Croghan that the White Mingo and other chiefs of the Six Nations, or Iroquois, had something to say to Washington and desiring that Washington be at Croghan's house at 11 a. m. to meet the chiefs.
The meeting was had and Washington says he received a speech and a string of wampum from the White Mingo, who stated that Washington was a person he remembered having seen when Washington was on an embassy to the French, and most of the chiefs present had heard of Washington and came to welcome him to this country. This was in 1753.
Washington responded and records the White Mingo's remarks and his own response in his journal and says:
"After dining at Col. Croghan's, we returned to Pittsburgh, Col. Croghan, who intended to accompany us part of the way down the river, having engaged an Indian called Pheasant as guide and one Joseph Nicholson, an interpreter, to attend us the whole voyage; also a young Indian warrior."
Croghan, Lieut. Hamilton from Fort Pitt garrison, and Alexander McKee of McKees Rocks, whom Washington calls Magee—did accompany Washington's party as far as Logstown, close to the present site of Ambridge.
The White Mingo had his cabin directly across the river from Croghan's home. Accompanying Washington were Dr. Craik of Alexandria, Va., his family physician, later surgeon-in-chief under Washington during the Revolutionary War; Capt. William Crawford, William Harrison, Crawford's nephew; the Indians mentioned, and the interpreter Nicholson, and three others. Harrison perished like Crawford, a victim of Crawford's ill-starred expedition against the Indians in 1782.
Judge McCandless, a finished scholar, knew the historic story of his land. He could have traced it from the title he acquired beginning with the grant to Croghan.
Sells Half His Estate.
When the Allegheny Valley Railroad cut through the McCandless property the Judge sold the upper part to Thomas Donnelly, an old-time banker, long president of the old Fourth National Bank in Fourth avenue.
Judge McCandless about the time he located permanently in his "Aliquippa" home had been elevated to the bench of the United States Court. Butler street was then the Butler road through the old borough of Lawrenceville, turning at what is now Forty-fifth street to the river and following the river to Sharpsburg. The Lawrenceville and Sharpsburg plank road soon afterward opened Butler street, as we now know it, to Sharpsburg, the first bridge across the Allegheny there built prior to 1870, the first bridge destroyed by fire that year.
Vast tracts surrounded the judge's holdings. There was the George A. Bayard tract, 102 acres of it the first purchase made by the Allegheny Cemetery. Then land of Sarah Collins, sister-in-law of the Judge. Peter Mowry had much land also, his estate extending from Stanton avenue to the river and along present Fifty-second street. Some of the Mowry holdings later became part of the cemetery.
First Petroleum Refiner Here.
Well known Pittsburgh families of olden days were neighbors of Judge McCandless and before the district became distinctly a manufacturing one, especially given over to refining crude oil, it was one of the most charming suburban sections of rapidly growing Pittsburgh, vying with Oakland in the number of fine homes and well laid out and well kept grounds.
In the vicinity of, and adjoining, the Butler road lived John Davis, pioneer cracker manufacturer in Pittsburgh, the Tomlinsons, descendants of Tomlinson of Stackhouse & Tomlinson, first engine builders in Pittsburgh; William Sample, the Bissells, the Holmses, William David, John, Jane and Mary, Jane donating the land housed in the old Homes mansion.
Then there were the Sieberts, Samuel M. Kier, who first refined petroleum; John Graham, long president of the Bank of Pittsburgh, who owned the site of Croghan's "Hutte;" the Pattersons, Duncans and the Wainwrights.
Over the brow of the hill overlooking the Butler road was another and different Croghan's estate, descending to his daughter Mary, wife of Capt. Schenley, the mansion and grounds known as "Picnic." Adjoining this was the fine grounds and home of O. H. Allerton, prominent for many years in the stock yards control and management in East Liberty and on Herrs Island.
Judge Wilson McCandless was revered in this city. He was famous as an orator and to say that he adorned the bench is to state it mildly. He was a man of striking appearance and kindly mien.
Judge McCandless was a native of Allegheny County, born in Noblestown, July 10, 1810. He was educated in the old Western University, now the University of Pittsburgh, read law with George Selden, and was admitted to the bar of Allegheny County June 19, 1831.
Mr. McCandless' first law partner was W. W. Fetterman, and after some years he was associated with William B. McClure, until McClure was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in 1850. Judge McClure was married to Lydia Collins, sister of Mrs. McCandless. We had his name commemorated once in McClure Township, yet retained in McClure avenue in the Woods Run section, once McClure Township.
Judge McCandless was married in 1834 to Sarah Collins. Their family consisted of three, one son, Stephen, and two daughters.
Judge McCandless was appointed ot the bench of the District Court by President Buchanan, February 8, 1859. He resigned July 24, 1876, retiring to private life. He died at his old home at McCandless Station June 30, 1882.
Judge J. W. F. White tells us in his history of the Allegheny County Bar that Judge McCandless was a remarkable man. Judge White says:
He was a natural orator, with a robust form and commanding personnel; he had a clear, musical voice and a fine flow of language, quick, brilliant, witty and admirable in repartee. He was often called on by his fellow citizens as the speaker for great public occasions and on such occasions his orations sparkled with the rarest gems of oratory. Few men equaled him in power before a jury in a criminal case. As the champion of the Democracy of Western Pennsylvania his voice was always heard in the thickest of the fight, cheering his comrades on to victory, or rallying them in defeat for another battle. He never held political office, but was frequently in state and national conventions, helping to choose the standard-bearers of his party and then entering the campaign with all his energies to secure their election. In private life he was genial, sympathetic, sprightly, witty and humorous. On the bench he maintained the dignity of his station with such unaffected urbanity that all the bar respected and loved him.
On the bench of the United States District Court Judge McCandless succeeded Judge Thomas Irwin, who had been appointed by President Jackson in 1831, serving 28 years. Judge McCandless was succeeded by Judge Winthrop W. Ketcham of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne county, then in the Western district. After serving four years Judge Ketcham died suddenly from apoplexy and was succeeded by the late Judge Marcus W. Acheson. All these judges held court in the old Postoffice and Customs House Building, at Fifth avenue and Smithfield street.
In that short-lived but pretentious illustrated journal published in Pittsburgh in 1871 by Charles McKnight and David Lowry, and called the People's Monthly, in the third issue, August, 1871, there is a full-page wood cut vignette of Judge McCandless and a two-column sketch of his public life and services, from which some items additional are obtained.
Tried Many Cases Alone.
His paternal grandfather was Scotch and emigrated to America prior to the Revolution. The Judge's father, William McCandless, was one of the early merchants of Pittsburgh, with his store and dwelling on the east side of Market street, between Third and Fourth. When the future judge was admitted to the bar in 1831 he had not attained his majority. The "Monthly's" article says he was admitted on the day he attained it.
How great and how successful his legal practice became in the 28 years at the bar can be shown by reference to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reports for that period.
Owing to the long illness and incapacity of Judge Robert C. Grier in 1870, Judge McCandless was compelled to try many important cases alone. Judge Grier was the associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States sitting in this circuit. He was a resident of Allegheny City and the first judge of the old District Court of Allegheny County. He died in 1870.
Judge McCandless was equal to the demands upon him. He was noted for his sound judgement and his righteous decisions. Among other cases of great public consequence he was compelled to sit upon were the celebrated Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad case and the municipal bond cases of Pittsburgh. He suppressed repudiation by his decision in the latter case.
Judge McCandless previous to his elevation to the bench was three times an elector-at-large from Pennsylvania, in 1844, 1852 and 1856, voting for Presidents Polk, Pierce and Buchanan.
Ran for Congress Twice.
Twice he was president of the electoral college; once he served as chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation in Baltimore in 1848, when the Democratic party's presidential nominees, Lewis Cass and William O. Butler, were defeated by Gen. Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, Whig candidates.
To gratify his party's leaders in Pittsburgh, and urged by his warmest friends, Judge McCandless was twice an unsuccessful candidate for Congress from Pittsburgh. He was defeated in 1846 by Judge Moses Hampton, Whig, and in 1856 by David Ritchie, Republican.
It always has been said to Judge McCandless' credit that, while most of his intimate friends differed with him politically, and though at times party spirit ran high here, engendering many and bitter animosities, he ever retained the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He was first of all a gentleman; demagogery [sic] and vindictiveness could find no lodgment in his great mind.
During his life Judge McCandless had many honors conferred upon him.
The degree of doctor of laws was conferred by that venerable institution, Union College, New York. For 15 years he was one of the board of inspectors of the Western Penitentiary in Allegheny, part of that time president of the board. He was a trustee of the Pittsburgh gas works, and his alma mater, the Western University. He was one of the incorporators and one of the first managers of the Allegheny Cemetery in 1844, and served on the board of managers until his death. He was the first president of the board of managers of the Homeopathic Hospital and for many years a vestryman in Old Trinity Church in Sixth avenue. Some of these positions the pressure of his judicial duties compelled him to relinquish.
Oration is a Classic.
As an orator Judge McCandless was conspicuous in this community—beyond it he had some fame also. All his oratorical efforts were happy and were long remembered. Some of his orations have been preserved.
He was frequently called upon to receive public men visiting Pittsburgh, among others John Quincy Adams in 1843, the judge's effort upon that occasion being considered more than ordinarily felicitous.
On the death of President Jackson in 1847, at the request of the citizens of Pittsburgh Judge McCandless delivered the eulogy upon the deceased in the West Common, Allegheny, now West Park.
The judge's oration in the Allegheny Cemetery, May 12, 1848, at the re-interment of the remains of Commodore Joshua Barney, U. S. N., and Lieut. James Lawrence Parker, U. S. N., is a classic. Barney of Revolutionary fame, hero of Bladensburg, died in Pittsburgh December 1, 1818, upon the eve of his departure for Kentucky, where he intended to make his future home. Young Parker was killed in war in Mexico, fighting on land.
The place of the sepulchre of these heroes is known as the Barney mound. The eloquent and touching address of Judge McCandless on that occasion is printed in full in the small volume entitled "Allegheny Cemetery Historical Account of Incidents and Events Connected with Its Establishment," edition of 1873.
Judge McCandless' name is further honored in McCandless township and in McCandless Lodge, No. 390, Free and Accepted Masons of Pittsburgh.
Those who knew and revered Stephen C. McCandless found him a worthy son of a worthy father. He died July 4, 1915.
