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Jackson Boggs
HON. JACKSON BOGGS, who at the time of his death was serving as President
Judge of Armstrong county, was born April 7, 1818, in Plum township, Allegheny
Co., Pa., near Pittsburgh. He was a son of David Boggs, and grandson of Thomas
Boggs, Sr.The Boggs family is Scotch-Irish. The great-grandfather of Judge Boggs at
an early day left Scotland and in 1722 settled in the town of Glassdrummond,
Ireland. Thomas Boggs, Sr., left Ireland in 1805, and coming to America
settled in western Pennsylvania, near Brighton, in Beaver county, where he
died. He married Elizabeth Chambers, and their union was blessed with six sons
and two daughters, viz: William, Thomas, Elizabeth, John, Ann, James, David,
and Robert.David Boggs, father of Judge Boggs, was born in Ireland in 1783, and came
in 1799 to western Pennsylvania, settling in what is now Plum township,
Allegheny county. He was one of the pioneers of that section, where he
purchased two tracts of woodland near the site of Murraysville and cleared out
fine farms on them. In 1849 he sold his farms and removed to Apollo, Pa.,
where he died Nov. 3, 1856, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He was a
Jeffersonian Democrat, and served for thirty years as a justice of the peace
in Allegheny county. In his early days he united with the Presbyterian church,
of which he continued to be a most earnest and useful member. In 1806 he
married Mary McKee, daughter of Squire McKee, of Murraysville, and they were
permitted to enjoy fifty years of wedded life. They had nine sons and four
daughters, of whom we have the following record: Thomas, born in November
1806; Eliza G., born in May 1809, who married David McKee, a farmer of the
Tuscarora valley; Fanny M., born in September, 1811, wife of Jacob Freetly, a
prominent lawyer of Apollo; John born in July, 1813, who married Ann Boggs,
daughter of William Boggs and a native of Ireland; Ann; Janie G., born on
October 1815, who married Samuel Beatty, a farmer of Allegheny county;
Jackson, mentioned below; Robert, who died in infancy; James, born in
September, 1822, who married Margaret A. Bailey, and was a lawyer in Clarion
county, Pa.; David C., former register and recorder of Armstrong county; a
twin brother of David that died in infancy; and Lavina, born in September
1830, who married Henry Townsend, of South Bend, Armstrong county. Squire
McKee, of near Murraysville, was one of the earliest settlers in western
Pennsylvania, living there in perilous times, surrounded by savage Indians.
For years he always had his rifle near him, and he buried his valuables for
safe keeping.Jackson Boggs was brought up in Plum township, where his father was an old
resident, and he continued to own his father�s farm there until his death.
In 1839, when twenty-one years old, he came to Kittanning, and engaged in
school teaching in East Franklin township. In 1840 he commenced to teach
school in Kittanning, and there in 1841, took up the study of law under Darwin
Phelps, Esq., later a member of Congress. He also read with Judge Joseph
Buffington, then of the Armstrong district, being admitted to the bar in 1843.
Soon afterward he formed a professional partnership with the late J.R.
Calhoun, then a member of the Legislature, and he continued to be actively
engaged in general practice until elected judge, attaining in time a position
among the foremost attorneys of western Pennsylvania. Upon the adoption of the
new constitution, Armstrong county was made a separate judicial district,
having been detached from the jurisdiction of Judge Moreland, who lived in
Westmoreland county, and in the contest following the formation of the new
district Mr. Boggs became the Democratic candidate for the judgeship. Up to
this time he had always taken an active interest in politics, but had never
been a candidate for any office. He was elected by a large majority after one
of the most hotly contested campaigns ever carried on in the county, and in
January, 1875, entered upon the duties of the office. As president judge he
endeavored to discharge his responsibilities conscientiously, regardless of
consequences, and his success may best be judged by the statement that in more
than four years of his administration he had but two decisions reversed by the
Supreme court. In fact, it was almost a hobby of his to be so cautious in his
decisions as to insure himself against reversal by that court, and he was
exceedingly careful, painstaking and industrious in following the workings of
every case which came before him, his exertions sometimes seeming almost
superhuman. In the administration of criminal cases he was always lenient and
merciful, often surprising the accused and convicted victim with an
unexpectedly light sentence. His errors, if any, were in this
direction—–always on the side of mercy. As may be inferred, he was
remarkably kind and tenderhearted, easily moved by appeals of distress, and
the miseries of want and affliction deeply affected his sympathetic nature.
Thus he gained so strong a hold upon popular feeling that he came to be
regarded as the poor man�s friend, a fact which accounted for his frequent
successes with juries, with whom his power as an advocate was conceded.Judge Boggs was compared to both Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. One writer
said of him: “The lately elected Democratic Judge Jackson Boggs was on
the bench, and every seat in the room outside the lawyer�s railing was
filled. Judge Boggs looks like the pictures of old Jackson; a great high
forehead, pointy at each side, hair standing straight up lie bristles. He has
unmistakably a fine face, or rather a strong face, one well calculated to
impress you as that of a self-reliant man, yet unbending when spoken to and as
affordable as ever Lincoln was. He was without doubt a man of great
intellectual power and who loved good principle.”As a citizen Judge Boggs was esteemed and respected by all who knew him.
His death, which occurred April 19, 1879, was regretted by the entire
community. A distinguished member of the Armstrong county bar and of the legal
profession in western Pennsylvania, his name was highly honored at a meeting
of the bar called for the purpose of making arrangements to attend his
funeral, Edward S. Golden, who presided, addressing the members of the bar
thus: “I have known Judge Boggs long and well. He was my school teacher
in early life, and for many years my fellow member of the bar, and of late the
presiding judge of the county. No man ever possessed more energy, industry, or
courage. He was true to duty in every relation of live. True as a lawyer, as a
judge and citizen, and more true and affectionate as a husband and father.
What a lesson is found to us in his death! Especially to me it comes with many
sad memories. My contemporaries, Calhoon, Cantwell, Donnelly, Finney,
Crawford, and many others are all gone and I am alone as their representative
with you, many of you my students and professional children; and upon you I
must lean, as the sun of my professional life casts its shadows far in the
east. Our lessons of this kind are many. May they show us the importance of
forgetting animosities and troubles, and of living better and higher
lives.”Agreeable to a request from the members of the family it was resolved that
the membership of the bar would attend the funeral in a body with suitable
badges of mourning. Hon. J.V. Painter, E. S. Golden, J. E. Brown, F. Mechling,
H.N. Lee, J. B. Neale, G.C. Orr, and J. A. McCollough were appointed as pall
bearers.Judge Boggs was prominently mentioned as the Democratic candidate for
governor at the Pittsburgh convention. A number of the delegates to that
convention were, in fact, instructed for him, among them being the delegates
of his own and adjoining counties. He did not make an active canvas for the
nomination, however, preferring for the time, at least, to attend to the
duties of the office he then filled.The Judge�s taste for agricultural pursuits, acquired in his early life,
never left him, and after residing in Kittanning until 1871 he moved onto his
farm in East Franklin township, this county, residing there until his death.
It was a matter of pride that he could refer to it as the best conditioned and
best cultivated farm in the county.In 1845 Mr. Boggs married Phoebe J. Mosgrove, daughter, of John Mosgrove,
Esq., and sister of the Hon. James Mosgrove. Two daughters are living: Anna
Jane, married Nov 4, 1867, to Norwood G. Pinney, and Isabel, now Mrs.
Withington Reynolds, residing in Kittanning.Source: Pages 301-324 Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J.H. Beers, & Co. 1914
Transcribed September 1998 by Donna Sheaffer for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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