Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-10-14
HON. GEORGE A. jerks.

'tOlHo ~ Dtuhs, bIlO eau
didate for Supreme Judge, is in his
forty.ffth year. He is the youngest of
ten children, and was born in Punxsu
tawney, jefferson county, Pa, March
26, 1886. His father, physician, was
descended from Welsh Quaker family
who were among the early settlers OF
Philadelphia. His mother was a daugh
ter of the Rev. ID. Barclay, Scotch
Presbyterian minister. When Mr..
jerks was child, his eldest brother, d.
b. jerks, who was a lawyer, was teach
ing him to count n hundred, and casu
ally asked him what business he would
follow when he became man. The re.
I.ply was, "Wait till tomorrow morning
and will tell YOU" During the night
the determination was formed and the
next morning communicated by the
subject of this SKETCH that he would be
| a lawyer. This purpose, so early form.
ed, was unalterably fixed. Thence.for.
ward his every labor and study was
directed to the purpose of his life. To
these early studies is largely to be at.
tributed his capability to deal with orig.
inal legal questions, such as he mani.
tested on the impeachment of Secretary
Belknap, the discussion of the Louisiana
and Oregon cases before the Electoral
Commission, and the debate on the dis.
tribution of the Geneva Award.
When attending the common school,
one of the readers then in use was the
Introduction to the English Reader.
In this, one OF the lessons was the story
of the Noble Basketmaker.h From
the story the moral was deriveG-that
every man, no difference what his cir.
cumstances or purposes in life might be,
should learn trade. This moral he
determined TO act upon. When four
! teen years old, his father died. At six.
teen he entered upon an apprenticeship
OF two years to the carpenter and join
er trade. When his term expired, he
worked at his trade, taught school and
occasionally was employed at civil en-.
gineering, till he entered college.
While engaged in the latter vocation,
in the spring of 1855, he assisted to lay
/ out Omaha in Nebraska. In the fall
Of that year he entered the junior class
at eiierscn College, having in the morn.
| ings and evenings, while teaching and
working, steadily pursued his literary
studies. lie had been entered as a
! student Of law before he entered col
| lege, and the Hon. W. z. jerks, who
was his guardian, had from early boy.
/ hood, directed him in his legal and III.
erary reading liz graduated at Jeiier.
/ son College IN the class of 1858, and in
/ 1859, was admitted TO the bar IN Jeiier.
son county, having finished his legal
studies under his elder brother, W. f.
jerks.
| At the September term. 1859, he led
in conducting his first case in court,
which was an all-importsnt one to his
clients, widow and her minor children,
/ whose all was their home, and that home
was dependent upon the result OF the
case. lie was opposed by the leading
! legal talent at the bar. including Hon.
! |. g. Gordon. Hon. w. I. jerks aud
! Hon. G.. W. Xeigler lie won the case,
and thence forward was employed in
most Of the important causes in his own
county, and his name soon became ia.
miliar in many of the courts OF western
and central Pennsylvania. TO which he
was called for the trial OF important
cases.
When not engaged in the courts, his
life has been one of constant study and
preparation. lie never sought public
position. but was known as a Democrat
In the fall of 1874 he was rendered the
Democratic nomination for Congress in
the 2jth district of Pennsylvania.
against Gen. Harry White. The district
was heavily Republican, but his person.
al popularity and the tidal wave elected
him to the 4ith Congress. Speaker
Kerr appointed him Chairman of the
Committee on Invalid Pensions. A
mastery report on the condition and
working OF the pension bureau, derived
from an investigation by order of the
House. he soon made, and followed this
by a bill which was calculated TO pre-
vent future abuses. Bounty land war.
rants, which before this had been per
sonal property, had become the plunder
OF dishonest ring, which at one single
time had seized upon over one hun.
dred thousand acres of land, were
changed to realty, through his efforts,
and so guarded that only the rightful
owners, their legal heirs or assigns,
could obtain them.
His forensic ability first became
known TO the House in a discussion
concerning the character OF an Invalid
Pension. He had asserted that an
Invalid Pension, for death or disability
of soldier of the service, in the
line of his duty, was a contract right.
This was denied by some the leading
Republicans of the House, who alleged
it was mere gift or gratuity, and a
warm debate ensued, at the conclusion
Of which Mr.. Jenks made a legal argu.
ment, tracing the legislation on the sub.
ject from and since the Revolutionary
war, and establishing so conclusively
the position he assumed, that il has not
since been denied. This was soon sue.
ceeded by legal discussion concerning
the refusal of Hallett Kilbourne to tes.
tify before a committee of the House.
The legal prominence he had already
obtained led the House to elect him as
one of the seven Managers on part of
the House to conduct the impeachment
OF Secretary Belknsp, the others being
Messrs. Lord, Knott, Lynde, Mcmahon,