HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D.

[Contributed by William J. Buck.]

Thy praise, O, Charity! thy labors most divine; thy sympathy with sighs and tears and groans: thy great, thy God-like wish to heal all misery.-Pollok.

His father, James Wilson, was born near St. Andrews, in Scotland, about the year 1742. Having completed his education, he turned his thoughts to America, and arrived in Philadelphia in 1766. He first became connected as a tutor with the college there, and afterwards studied law with the celebrated John Dickinson. He commenced practice at Reading, and subsequently removed to Carlisle. In 1775 he was elected to Congress, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His son, Bird Wilson, was born at Carlisle on the 8th of January, 1777, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1792, at the early age of 15 years. He shortly afterwards applied himself to the study of the law, and was admitted to practice at the bar in Philadelphia in March, 1797.

For a time he held a position of trust in the office of the Commissioner of the Bankrupt Law, his next appointment being President Judge in 1806 of the Court of Common Pleas in the Seventh circuit, comprising the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware, in which he succeeded Wm. Tilghman. As soon as he had entered on the duties of this office he made Norristown his residence, and thus became one of the most active workers in the building of St. John's Episcopal Church, which was commenced in 1813 and finished the following year; being the first house of worship erected there, of which he was one of the wardens. At this time he also edited an edition of the "Abridgement of the Law," published in Philadelphia in seven octavo volumes. In speaking of this work Judge Story says that he "has enriched it with many valuable additions." A murder was committed near the present town of Media, in which a young man of very respectable family connections was implicated, and who was arraigned before him October 20th, 1817, which led to his conviction in the first degree. But the Judge was unwilling to sentence him. After several postponements he finally concluded to

resign the position, Judge Ross taking his place April 13th, 1818, and the condemned received his sentence from the latter.* Judge Wilson now devoted himself for the ministry, and :studied under Bishop White, by whom he was admitted a Deacon in March, 1819, and soon after chosen Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church at Norristown and the charge of St. Thomas's church at Whitemarsh, which he held till in the summer of 1821. Having been appointed a Professor of Systematic Divinity in the General Theological Seminary at New York he removed there. In 1850 he became Emeritus Professor of the same, which position he filled till near the close of his life. In 1829 he was elected Secretary of the House of Bishops, in which capacity he continued until 1841, when he declined re-election. His Memoir of the Life of Bishop White was published in 1839, which contains also the early history of the Episcopal church in this country. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1821, and of LL.D. by Columbia College in 1845. He died April 14th, 1859, aged 83 years, and was buried in the ground belonging to Christ church, at the corner of Fifth and Arch streets, Philadelphia.

His father was taken from him just as he had reached his twenty-second year, and, owing to unfortunate speculations in lands, left his family dependent. As a consequence Dr. Wilson remained unmarried and provided for the wants of his three brothers and two sisters through his own unaided exertions. Habits of prudent, careful living thus early, made imperative by the circumstances in which he was placed, enabled him in after years to acquire a handsome competency. It was a daily practice, after his studies or recitations, to take his walks for exercise and recreation, sometimes extended to five miles, and often in the same direction. On the Sabbath and rainy days these would be taken either in his back yard or in some shelter. Here was one of the secrets of his uniform good health and length of life. A memoir of his life was written by

*This was John H. Craige, a dissipated blacksmith, who shot his neighbor, Edward Hunter, Esq., who had been instrumental in writing his father-in-law's will, thereby disinheriting him, and thus incurred his enmity. Craige shot him as he was standing in his stable, and was hanged for it at Chester, June 6th, 1818. His confession was one of the first pamphlets the author read in his youth.

William White Bronson, and published in 1864, to which we are indebted for a portion of the information contained in this sketch.

To the foregoing, furnished by Mr. Buck, the author cannot omit to add the following anecdote in further illustration of Judge Wilson's kindness of heart, which was proverbial about Norristown at the time of his residence here. It was communicated to the author by Mrs. Dr. Huddleson before her death. She said: "The Judge lived on the eminence east of the town, his mansion occupying the site now of Oakland Female Institute. In the evening, when the maids were milking, the lawn" or cow-yard would be thronged with cats waiting for their rations, because, as was understood, the kind-hearted Judge would not allow the kittens bred about the premises to be drowned, as is the custom. He would, however, as a partial remedy for over-cat population, order his black man-of-allwork, "Jupiter," to transport the young felines in a bag and drop them in the neighboring village."

This story aptly illustrates the tender sensibility of the man above described, who rather than sentence even a deliberate murderer to death preferred to resign his seat on the bench.

HON. SAMUEL GROSS.

Among the men of early prominence in our county was he: whose name stands at the head of this article. He lived in Upper Providence township, and was a Democrat of great in-fluence in the early years of the century. In 1803 he was elected to the Assembly in company with Nathaniel B. Boileau, Henry Scheetz and John Mann, and served the session of 1803-4, and also the two following sessions. By the record of proceedings he appears to have been Mr. Boileau's "right-hand supporter," as it is published that when Mr. Boileau offered his resolution for the Pennsylvania Legislature to invite President Jefferson to allow his name to be used for re-election,

Mr. Gross seconded the motion. It was adopted, and a handsome address put forth. At that time Mr. B. was the leader of the House, and wielded great influence in the Assembly. In 1807, in addition to being renominated, he was placed chairman of the committee of correspondence of the party, and in 1810 was one of the committee named in the bill to sell the stock of the Reading and Perkiomen Turnpike Company. In the fall of 1811 he was elected from Montgomery county to the State Senate. In this office we have not found any record of his doings, but as he was nominated by his party and elected to Congress in 1818, four years after the completion of his Senatorial term, it is presumable that he was up to the full standard of Jeffersonian Democracy.

In 1818 the question of the admission of Missouri, with slavery existing therein—as it had been when ceded by France in 1803-arising in Congress, public feeling ran very high on the subject, both North and South, the former resisting and the latter advocating the measure. The North contended for the application of the Ordinance of 1787, a compact between the United States and Virginia for the exclusion of slavery from all the Northwest Territory, and the slaveholding States resisting it. The matter was debated in Congress during nearly all the time Mr. Gross was a member, and when the question finally came up for decision in 1820, on what was called the Missouri Compromise line, i. e., all territories south of 36–30 degrees to have slavery and all north to be free, Mr. Gross, under the advice of the Legislature of the State, as Jonathan Roberts in the Senate under instruction, voted against the admission of Missouri because of its slave constitution. He enjoyed the honor of a renomination and election to Congress in 1820, at the close of which term it is presumed he retired from public life.

Samuel Gross was born November 10th, 1774, and died March 19th, 1844. His wife, Mary Gross, died November 16th, 1812, aged 35 years. Their tombs are together in the cemetery of Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe.

Samuel and Mary Gross left three children: John E. Gross, Mary, the wife of Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., and Thomas Jefferson

Gross, who for many years had been assistant clerk at Harrisburg, a position given him and retained by the influence of Mr. Shunk. Mr. T. J. Gross was an admirable expert in assisting the routine of legislation, and remained about the State capital nearly all his later life.

All the immediate children of Samuel and Mary Gross are deceased; but John E. Gross, the eldest, left five children, all living, and the youngest, Thomas Jefferson, six, also living. One of the latter is Charles H. Gross, Esq., attorney-at-law, of the law firm of Barger & Gross, No. 242 S. Fifth street, Philadelphia, to whom we are indebted for some facts concerning the family.

HON. FREDERICK CONRAD.

Was born in Worcester township, Montgomery county, near Centre Point, on a farm which he inherited from his father, and where he lived most of his life. His father, Frederick Conrad, was married to Mary Hartman. They were either German emigrants or of the first generation after, as the date of the emigration of the family is not recorded. The subject of our biography was married first to Catharine Schneider, of Long Swamp, New Hanover township, and they had seven children, as follows: Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine, Frederick, Henry, Susan, and Christiana. Of these, Elizabeth married Jesse Weber; Mary, Philip Hoover, the father of Judge Hoover; Catharine, Frederick Foust; Frederick, Elizabeth Anslee; Henry, Elizabeth Kendall; Susan, Abraham Wanner; and Christiana, John Kline. All the immediate children of Frederick Conrad, Sr., are dead, but numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren are found nearly all over Montgomery county, and many are doubtless scattered elsewhere. Elizabeth, the relict of his eldest son, and mother of Mrs. William P. Cuthbertson, died at the residence of her daughter, in Norristown, at an advanced age, a few years ago; and within the last thirty years, the widow,