The twentieth century opened with JAMES SHARP WILSON the judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County. He was born in Franklin Township, Beaver County on November 10, 1862. He attended Beaver County public schools, the Sewickley Academy and, beginning at age 15, taught at various times at the Harmony, Pennsylvania academy and for two terms in the New Brighton night schools. In 1885, he graduated from Geneva, studied law under Henry Hice and was admitted to the bar on June 4, 1888. The Republican Party nominated him for judge in 1895; in the general election he earned a 10-year term on the bench. When his term expired in January, 1906, he declined to run for reelection, and returned to the general practice of law. A Presbyterian, he married Sarah I. Hazen on December 25, 1888 and had four children: John H. Wilson, James Sharp Wilson, Jr., Hugh Hazen Wilson, and Mary Elizabeth Wilson. judge Wilson was a member of the Elks, Odd Fellows and Masons. In 1906, he assisted in reorganization of Fort McIntosh National Bank and later became its president. He was also general counsel and director of Chester Cement Company. judge Wilson died on March 31, 1909.
RICHARD SMITH HOLT followed judge Wilson as judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was born December 15, 1860, in Borough Township, Beaver County and attended the public schools, Piersols' Academy in Bridgewater and the State Normal School at Edinboro (now Edinboro State University). He taught school, studied law with Sam B. Wilson and on May 7, 1888, was admitted to the Bar. He was elected judge in November, 1905 and served until January 1916. He left the bench, formed a partnership with his brother, Clyde Holt and his son-in-law, Harry B. Richardson and practiced law thereafter. Richard Holt married Sarah E. Brunton on August 21, 1884 and had six children. Richard Holt West, a grandson, was a judge in Beaver County from 1951-1952. judge Holt died on October 12, 1933.
GEORGE A. BALDWIN SR. succeeded judge Holt to the bench. He was born on December 12, 1874 in Oil City, Pennsylvania but lived most of his life in Rochester. He graduated from Rochester High School in 1893 and from Geneva College in 1897 and attended the University of Pittsburgh Law School. judge Baldwin was admitted to the bar in 1901; on June 23, 1904, he married Anna Elizabeth Speyerer. He was elected to the bench in the fall of 1915 and served as judge from 1916 to 1926. He lived in Rochester but practiced law there only a short time, then moved his practice to Beaver. Judge Baldwin served on the Board of Directors of Geneva College, the Passavant Memorial Home and the Salvation Army. He was past president of the Lutheran Old Peoples' Home and various financial institutions and hospitals. He was a member and trustee of the Grace Lutheran Church, Rochester, where he also supervised the Sunday School. He served on the Adjudication Board of the United Lutheran Church of America and as past president and charter member of the Rochester Rotary Club. Illness plagued him in 1953, and he discontinued his law practice. He died on February 2 0, 1964, at the Old Peoples' Home, Zelienople, survived by his wife and three sons, Richard S. Baldwin, Attorney George A. Baldwin, Jr., and Paul H. Baldwin, two grandchildren and a brother. He was buried in Union Cemetery, Monaca.
WILLIAM APPLETON MCCONNEL was born in Bridgewater on October 23, 1866, the son of William P. McConnel and Lydia Ann Stewart McConnel. He graduated from Phillips-Exeter Academy and from Yale University in 1890. He married Sarah Stokes Bruce on July 10, 1895. He studied law under John H. Buchanan and was admitted to the Beaver County Bar on January 23, 1893. judge McConnel then practiced law in Beaver until he replaced George Baldwin on the local bench in 1926. After his ten-year term as judge ended in 1936, he did not seek reelection and resumed legal practice in Beaver with his sons, Stewart P. McConnel and Richard A. McConnel. In honor of his half-century of legal service in May, 1945 the County Bar Association awarded judge McConnel a framed certificate. He died on June 5, 1945 survived by his three sons, Stewart, Richard, and Stokes. Services were held at the Beaver Methodist Church and burial in the Beaver Cemetery. The legal tradition in his family continues: Stewart's son, Stewart, Jr. is an attorney practicing in Cleveland.
Republican Governor William C. Sproul appointed FRANK E. READER to the second seat on the Beaver County bench that was created by the Act of May 10, 1921. Hewas born on December 15,1868, in Greencastle, Sullivan County, Missouri. After his family moved to Beaver County, judge Reader graduated from New Brighton High School, attended Geneva College and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1888. On June 3,1896, he married Jennie Boyd Nesbitt and had three children: Dorothy, Merran, Ethel and Martha. He studied law in Pittsburgh, joined the Allegheny County Bar in September 1891, and the Beaver County Bar on October 29, 189 1. He practiced law with Alfred S. Moore and Winfield S. Moore, then practiced alone from 1897 to 1908. A popular judge, the voters returned him to office for three ten-year terms: 1921, 1931 and 1941. Poor health plagued him in later years, and he resigned from his seat on the bench on July 1, 1944. judge Reader died on May 5, 1947.
In November, 1935, voters elected HENRY HICE WILSON the County's first Democratic judge; he ascended to the bench in January 1936 to succeed William A. McConnel. He was born October 2, 1872, the son of Frank Wilson and Anna Mary Gregg Wilson. judge Wilson graduated from Beaver High School in 1891 and studied law in the offices of Agnew Hice and Henry Hice, for whom he was named. In 1910, he was the Democratic nominee for Congress from the 25th District of Pennsylvania. judge Wilson set a sterling example for septuagenarians everywhere when, at the age of 63, he married Leota R. Ingram. judge Wilson was a member of the First Methodist Church of Beaver and the Beaver County Bar Association. judge Wilson died on September 30, 1954 after a lengthy illness and was buried in the Beaver Cemetery.
ROBERT E. MCCREARY followed Frank E. Reader to the second judicial seat in Beaver County. He was born in Monaca on August 24, 1897, the son of Thomas W. and Mary Rose Ganley McCreary. He graduated from Monaca High School and Allegheny College in 1918; he enlisted in the United States Navy on April 30, 1918, attained the rank of Ensign and was honorably discharged in May 1919. He then graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and was admitted to the practice of law in Beaver County in 1922. The voters elected him District Attorney in 1935 and reelected him four years later. During his terms he served as President of the District Attorney's Association of Pennsylvania in 1941. Republican Governor Edward Martin appointed him to the bench on July 19, 1944, to fill the vacancy caused by judge Reader's resignation. In November 1945, Beaver County voters elected him to a ten-year term on the Common Pleas Bench; on December 6,1945, he was commissioned President judge effective the first Monday of January 1946. The voters reelected him in November 1955 for a second term. He was a member of St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Beaver Falls. He died on December 24, 1963, survived by his widow, Ellen Cain McCreary, two sons, Robert E. Emmett McCreary and Charles Cain McCreary, and two daughters, Suellen and Charlotte. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery, Beaver Falls.
MORGAN H. SOHN was born on a farm in Hopewell Township on March 29, 1901, the son of Henry Sohn and Rosa Hartenbach Sohn. His ancestors had resided in Beaver County for over 100 years. He graduated from Woodlawn High School, Aliquippa in 1920, from Geneva College in 1923, and from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1926. On September 1, 1925, he married Beatrice Carl in Aliquippa. His judicial career paralleled, to some extent, that of judge McCreary. In 1945, the voters elected Sohn and McCreary, both Republicans, to the bench. Both McCreary and Sohn took office on January 6, 1946, and in 1955, the voters reelected the two, both unopposed as Republican and Democratic nominees, to additional 10 year terms. When judges Sohn and McCreary took office on January 8, 1946, they both wore black judicial robes, an innovation in the Beaver County Courts. Prior to that date, Beaver County judges had never worn the robes customary in other courts. From late 1963 until June 1964 Sohn was the County's only judge due to the death of judge McCreary. judge Sohn retired from the bench in 1965. An enviable record as trial judge graced his tenure. Litigants appealed 106 of his decisions to the higher courts, but only ten were reversed. After his retirement from the bench, he practiced law for 18 years in Beaver, the last seven with his daughter, Gretchen. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Beaver. He and his wife had three daughters, Marilyn Sohn Mahon, M.D., Barbara Sohn Carlson and Gretchen Sohn Reed. Gretchen married Robert Reed in 1958. The two constituted the first married couple to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Gretchen practices law in Beaver and Robert Reed became judge in 1974. The family legal tradition started by judge Sohn lives on; a grandson, Morgan B. Mahon is a practicing attorney and a granddaughter, Caryl L. Carlson, is a first-year law student.
Hon. Jesse Moore 1801 - 1806
Hon. Samuel Roberts 1806- 1820
Hon. William Wilkins 1820 - 1824
Hon. Charles Shaler 1824 - 1831
Hon. John Bredin 1831 1851
Hon. Daniel Agnew 1851 1863
Hon. Lawrence L. McGuffin 1863 1866
Hon. Brown B. Chamberlin 1866- 1866
Hon. Alexander W. Acheson 1866 - 1874
Hon. Henry Hice 1874 - 1885
Hon. John H. Wickham 1885 - 1895
Hon. Millard F. Mecklem 1895 - 1896
Hon. James Sharp Wilson 1896 - 1905
Hon. Richard Smith Holt 1906 - 1915
Hon. George A. Baldwin 1916 - 1925
Hon. Frank E. Reader 1921 - 1944
Hon. William Appleton McConnel 1926- 1935
Hon. Henry Hice Wilson 1936 - 1945
Hon. Robert E. McCreary 1944 - 1963
Hon. Morgan H. Sohn 1946- 1965
Hon. Richard Holt West 1951 - 1952
Hon. Frank E. Reed 1952 - 1973
Hon. Ralph E. Scalera 1965 - 1970
Hon. John N. Sawyer 1966 - 1985
Hon. James E. Rowley 1966 - 1981
Hon. J. Quint Salmon 1970 - 1979
Hon. H. Beryl Klein 1972 - 1978
Hon. Robert C. Reed 1974 -
Hon. Joseph S. Walko 1978 -
Hon. Thomas C. Mannix 1978 -
Hon. Robert Kunselman 1982 -
Hon. Peter 0. Steege 1986 -
RICHARD H. WEST served on the Beaver County bench less than six months before he died. He was born in Brighton Township on July 4, 1908, attended the Beaver public schools, graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1930, and from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1933. A lifelong Presbyterian, judge West married the former June Johnson of Pittsburgh in 1936; they had two sons, Richard, Jr. and David. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant-colonel in the 103rd Division from 1942 until 1945, including 18 months of service in Europe. He served 19 years in the local bar until appointed to the bench. In 1952, Governor John S. Fine appointed him to fill Beaver County's third judicial seat, created by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1952 as a separate Orphan's Court. A brain disorder struck judge West about two weeks prior to his death; he had been rushed to Cleveland for treatment where he died on May 27, 1952.
Judge West's death prompted Governor Fine in July 195 2 to appoint FRANK REED to fill the vacancy. judge Reed was born on October 13, 1902, in New Brighton. He graduated from Allegheny College in 1925, and from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1928. He was admitted to the Beaver County Bar Association in August, 1928, practiced law in New Brighton for eight years, then transferred his practice to Beaver. From 1932 to 1935, he served as first assistant district attorney. He married the former Mildred Anderson of Rochester; she died on January 4, 1951. They had two children, Robert and Thomas. The voters of Beaver County twice elected him to 10 year terms. judge Reed never accepted any private campaign contributions for his campaigns. judge Reed always had a reputation as a firm but fair judge. In an article in the January 4, 1974 Beaver County Times, reporter Nadine Holovach noted: "One thing is certain, judge Reed never tolerated any unpreparedness or ineptness by attorneys in his courtroom and many a lawyer has felt the sting of his censure. In fact, many have trembled in their boots when assigned to his courtroom. I know I have been cursed from one end of this courthouse to the other by disgruntled attorneys, Reed, who ran a no-nonsense court, admits. judge Reed retired on January 5, 1974, and currently resides in Florida.
RALPH E. SCALERA, the only Beaver County resident to serve as a Federal District judge, was born to Dominic J. and Josephine R. Scalera on june 28,1930, in Midland. He graduated from Harvard in June, 1952, and from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in June 1955. He then served with the United States Army from June 1955 until September 1957 in Counterintelligence. He resigned from his practice in Beaver in December 1959 to become Assistant United States Attorney in Pittsburgh. Less than two years later, he returned to the County to recommence private practice. In June, 1964, Republican Governor William Scranton appointed him to the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County to replace the late judge Robert E. McCreary. He was elected in 1965 to serve a ten-year term, but resigned in February 1970 to run for Lieutenant Governor with Raymond Broderick against Milton Shapp and Ernest Kline. After his defeat, he returned to private practice in Beaver County. On November 11, 197 1, President Richard Nixon appointed him District judge of the Western District Court of Pennsylvania to replace retiring judge John L. Miller. Scalera resigned from the Federal bench in 1976 to begin private practice in Pittsburgh. judge Scalera has served in a wide variety of charitable and judicial organizations. On November 19, 1960 he married Janet Ruth Roosa; they have one child, Amy Marie Scalera.
JOHN N. SAWYER was born in Darlington, Beaver County on June 24, 1915 to Dr. Benjamin C. Sawyer and Anna Arnold Sawyer. He graduated from Darlington High School in 1932, from Geneva College in 1936, and from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1939. He was ranked first academically in his graduating class in law school and edited the University of Pittsburgh Law Review during the final year of his legal studies. A member of the Order of the Coif, he was also awarded a one-year teaching fellowship at the School of Law. He joined the local bar in June 1940, but during World War II served as a First Lieutenant on the judge Advocate General's staff in Counterintelligence. A Republican, he won the general election in 1965 and began a ten-year term on the bench in January 1966. In June, 1970 judge Sawyer became president judge. In 1975, he became the first Beaver County judge to serve another ten-year term through the new process of a "retention election," a product of the 1968 Constitutional Convention. In 1985, he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 and retired to become Senior judge. judge Sawyer has served on the Geneva College Board of Directors, as a Past President of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial judges, in various local organizations and as elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Beaver. In 1966, Geneva College awarded him a Distinguished Service Award. judge Sawyer married a 1943 Geneva graduate, the former Mary Louise Lurting on March 3, 1945, in Mars, Pennsylvania; they have four children: Robert A. Sawyer, the Reverend Clark T. Olson-Sawyer, Susan L. Hovis and the late John L. Sawyer, who died on August 11, 1987.
The state legislature created a fourth judicial seat for Beaver County in 1966, and Republican Governor William Scranton appointed JAMES E. ROWLEY to fill the seat commencing June 11, 1966. judge Rowley was born in Tarenturn, Pennsylvania on April 8, 1926, the son of Myron E. and the former Ethelwyn M. Beatty. Legal blood churns in his veins. His father was an attorney from 1926 until his death in 1972; his only child, Daniel Agnew Rowley, was admitted to the bar in 1980 and practices in the District of Columbia. Furthermore, the grandfather of judge Rowley's wife, the former Ruth Ann Agnew (married June 14,1949 in Hopewell Township) was in some degree a cousin to the former Chief Justice Daniel Agnew of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Since justice Agnew was also a Beaver County resident, the County's only judges to serve in the appellate courts hail from the same family. judge Rowley graduated from Aliquippa High School in 1944 and attended Geneva College and Carnegie Institute of Technology. During World War II he served for two years in the United States Army and attained the rank of Private First Class. On June 14, 1949, he married the former Ruth Ann Agnew in Hopewell Township; they have one son, Daniel Agnew Rowley. judge Rowley graduated with honors from Washington & Jefferson College in 1951, and from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1955. In law school he was a staff member of the law review and the Order of the Coif. He joined the local Bar in 1953, has held a variety of positions in charitable and non-profit organizations and is a member of the Mt. Carmel United Presbyterian Church. judge Rowley ascended to the local bench in 1966; a year later, the County voters elected him to a ten-year term commencing in 1967 and an additional ten year term in 1977. In November, 1981 the voters of Pennsylvania elected him to serve a ten-year term on the Pennsylvania Superior Court commencing January 4, 1982.
The Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1968 merged the Orphan's Court, previously a separate division of the Courts, into the Court of Common Pleas. Republican Governor Raymond Shafer appointed J. QUINT SALMON to replace judge Scalera on the second judicial seat in Beaver County on July 21, 1970. judge Salmon was subsequently elected to a ten-year term on the bench on November 2, 197 1. judge Salmon was born in New York on October 3, 1907, to Leib A. Salmon and Bertha Q. Salmon. On August 26, 1941, he married Anne Daniels. judge Salmon graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Business Administration in 1928 and obtained his law degree from Pitt three years later. He began his legal practice in Beaver in 1932. In addition to a vast array of educational and philanthropic activities, judge Salmon is a fellow in the American College of Probate Counsel, a member of the American Law Institute, a former member of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, a member of the American judicature Society, Beaver County Bar Association President from 1947-49, and Past Chairman Executive, Censors and Public Relations Committee. judge Salmon has also served as a member of the Beaver County Cancer Society, the United Cancer Council, Inc., Board of Directors of the Beaver County Rehabilitation Center, Inc., a Charter member of the Century Club since 1952, Chairman, University of Pittsburgh Alumni Giving Fund, 1958-59, Past member University of Pittsburgh Alumni Council, member Charter Council and Board of Visitors School of Law, 1968-1976, University of Pittsburgh and the President of Health and Welfare Council of Beaver County, 1964-65. He was the County's first Jewish judge.
On December 29, 1971 the Pennsylvania legislature created the fifth judicial seat on the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas. The County's second Jewish judge, H. BERYL KLEIN, filled the seat on December 30, 1971. He was born on March 11, 1928, in Aliquippa, the son of Adolph Klein and the former Gizella Karp. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1949, served in the United States Army from 1950-52 and graduated from the Duquesne University School of Law in 1957. After his appointment, the voters of the County elected him to a ten-year term on the bench in the November, 1973, general election after judge Klein had secured the nominations of both the Republican and Democratic parties. He is a member of the Beaver County, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial judges, and was the "Man of the Year" of the Aliquippa Area Chamber of Commerce in 1971. Judge Klein resigned from the bench in 1978 and practices law in Aliquippa.
ROBERT C. REED replaced judge Frank E. Reed (no relation) on the third judicial seat in 1974. He was born on November 19, 1932, in Beaver, Pennsylvania, the son of Clark Denny Reed and Ethel Anderson Reed. Robert Reed attended Lincoln High School in Midland, graduated from Mercersburg Academy in 1950 and from Dickinson College in 1954. He served in the United States Army from 1954-56 and as a reserve from 1956-63. In 1963, he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and joined the local bar in 1963. In November, 1973, Reed, judge H. Beryl Klein and Joseph Walko vied for the two seats on the local bench. Klein won the most votes, but less than ten votes separated Reed and Walko on the first count. The jointly-demanded recount revealed more problems with the ballots. The local judges disqualified themselves from ruling on the rival claims, so on December 27, 1973, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed judge F. Joseph Thomas to determine the validity of the challenges to the ballots. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania eventually held, on July 1, 1974, that Reed had triumphed by eight votes over Walko. Ah re Recount of Ballots Cast in the General Election held on November 6, 1973, 457 Pa. 277, 325 A.2d 303 (1974) . A retention election in 1983 secured a second ten-year term for Reed on the bench. In 1985, after judge Sawyer retired, Reed became president judge. He married Gretchen Sohn, the daughter of judge Morgan Sohn, on June 14, 1958. They attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Law together, and were the School's first married couple to graduate. They have three children, David C. Reed, Cynthia S. Reed and R. Grant Reed.
In 1977, judge Salmon reached the mandatory retirement age imposed by the 1968 Constitutional Convention. JOSEPH S. WALKO replaced him on the third judicial seat of Beaver County, and has subsequently won two ten-year retention reelections to the bench. judge Walko was born on October 10, 1930 in Ambridge, the son of Joseph and Anna Tkatch Walko. He graduated from Geneva College in 1952 and from the Dickinson School of Law in 1955. He began his practice in Ambridge in 1956, served as Beaver County Assistant District Attorney from 1957-1968 and as District Attorney from 1972-77. In 1973 he ran for judge, but Robert Reed defeated him by eight votes in the County judicial election. judge Walko has served in many local organizations, garnered many awards, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial judges and the Beaver County, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations. He resides with his wife, the former Rosemary Rosatelli, in Harmony Township; they have three children: Joseph Jr., Jonathan and James.
Governor Milton Shapp appointed THOMAS C. MANNIX to replace judge Klein on the fifth judicial seat on July 25, 1978. In 1979, County voters elected Mannix to serve a ten-year term commencing in 1980. judge Mannix was born in Beaver Falls on April 5, 1928, the son of Thomas W. and Ellen Cavanaugh Mannix. He graduated from Bucknell University in 1949 and from the Dickinson University School of Law in 1952. He then served with the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1952-54. He was admitted to practice in Pennsylvania in 1955 and to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1957. He is a member of the Beaver County, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, the American judicature Society, the Pennsylvania Conference of Trial judges and served as past president of the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind. He is married to the former jean Mcgonigle; they have four children: Timothy, Kathy, Maura and Paul.
On May 28, 1982, Governor Richard Thornburg appointed ROBERT E. KUNSELMAN to replace judge James Rowley on Beaver County's fourth judicial seat. judge Kunselman was born in Summerville, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania on June 21, 1937 to Harry E. and Priscilla (Thomas) Kunselman. He graduated from Freedom Area High School in 1955, Geneva College in 1959 and the Duquesne University School of Law in 1962. On September 30, 1961 he married Edith Evorme Kunselman in Freedom. He has four children: Harry F. Kunselman, born August 15, 1963; Lisa M. Kunselman, born May 3,1965; and Christopher E. Kunselman, Born October 2 7, 1969; and Elena A. Kunselman, born September 18, 1975. He served in the United States Army Reserves from 1963-79. He began his legal practice in Beaver in 1963. He is a member of the Beaver County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations, St. Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Church, Beaver, and many positions in philanthropic associations.
Beaver County's newest judge is PETER 0. STEEGE. He is this century's second member of the local bench born out of state: November 9, 1933 in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Otto Paul Steege and the former Cecelia Grace Ostlin. He graduated from Wethersfield High School, Connecticut in 1951, Wesleyan College in 1955 and from the University of Chicago School of Law in 1958. He joined the local bar in 1960. He won the general election of 1985 to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of judge Sawyer and joined the local bench in January, 1986. judge Steege is active in many local activities, including past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Medical Center, past President of the Board of Directors of the Community Mental Health Center, past Chairman of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission, an Elder in the Park Presbyterian Church of Beaver, and past President of the Beaver County Bar Association. He married his wife, Betty, in 1975 and has five children: Elizabeth, Carin, Trilby, Andrew and Jane.
Thus, the five present judges of the Court
of Common pleas of Beaver County are: President judge ROBERT REED,
judge THOMAS MANNIX, judge ROBERT KUNSELMAN, judge JOSEPH WALKO
and judge PETER STEEGE. Three other judges serve on retired status:
judge JOHN SAWYER, judge FRANK REED and judge QUINT SALMON.