Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-05

| and only q year and a, half ago theiI
daughter was laid to rest beside the grave Of
B. NJ. Breckenridge.
First Foreign Woman Naturalized.
DR.. Stiernen was cultivated German,
who came direct from Bremen to take the
position Of chief chemist in the soda works
located near the Breckenridge homestead.
Benjamin M. Breckenridge wooed and won
the daughter, Cornelia, and married her.
She was one Of the first foreign women to
be naturalized in the United States. Her
husband dying SO soon, and an immense
estate coming into possession of herself and
children at the death of Judge Bracken-
ridge. she became noted as one of the keen
est business women in Allegheny county
She was indeed blessing to the community
in which she lived, and no woman in the
valley of the Allegheny was loved quite SO
son, Henry NJ. Breckenridge, is now the
proprietor of the old estate
One other grave in the Breckenridge lot is
marked by beautiful piece of sculpture 1t
is the tomb of Mrs. Cornelia McKelvy, the
daughter of Mrs. B. NJ. Breckenridge, who
died in 1882. Her husband, j. Erastus Nc
Kelvy, is prominent member of the Pitts
burg bar. In the center of this group of
tombs arises a plain marble shaft, upon
which is cut the names of all those inferred
in the lot. A circular hedge row of pine in
closes the sacred plot Of ground.
Judge Hugh Henry Breckenridge.
But the head of this family is not buried
here. That was the famous Judge Hugh
Henry Breckenridge. His connection with
the great Whisky Insurrection, and his
magnificent career as a lawyer and a writer,
has familiarized his name to all students Of
the country's history west of the Allie
ghenies 1t is only with his literary work
that this article will deal, and in that con-
nection it is worth while stating that the
first efforts of his pen were SO vigorous as to
inaugurate in Pennsylvania the once-popu-
lar custom of attempting to horsewhip an
editor. In 1776 Judge Breckenridge was
editor of the United States Magazine, at Phila-
delphia- He had written some severe strict
ures of the celebrated Lighthouse Harry
Lee, and censured him for his course toward
George Washington. General Lee, in
rage, called at the Office in company with
some of his aids, with the intention of as
saulting the editor. He knocked at the
door, while Breckenridge, looking out of
the upper story window, inquired what was
wanting.
''Come down." said Lee, sand I'll give
you as good horse-whipping as any rascal
ever received"
Excuse me, General" replied Bracken-
ridge, 81 would not go down for two such
faVors''
The Old Homestead Still Stands.
Much of the private library and manu-
scripts of Judge HI. H. Breckenridge de-
scended to his son, Judge Henry Marie
Breckenridge, whose grave at Tarentum is
described above. H. M. Breckenridge
came into possession of the large estate still
held by the family above Tarentum, and his
old homestead, built nearly 20 years ago,
still stands on the shore of the river, and is
occupied by the great grandson of the
original Judge, one of the best-known
business men in the valley.
Judge Henry H. Breckenridge was also a
distinguished literateur, and one day last
week L was privileged to spend an after
noon in the library left by the two most
polished writers Allegheny county ever
produced. H. NJ Breckenridge devoted
much of his literary labors to reproducing
the best works of his father, with notes. ex-
plantations and additions. Perhaps the
most taking thing that II. II. Breckenridge
ever wrote was a book entitled "Modern
Chivalry." He had passed through the
scourge of public opinion in The Whisky
Insurrection, and he had dealt with
treacherous politicians of that early day.
Modern Chiyalry" appeared two years
after the great insurrection of the Monon-
gahela valley, and in its pages are dis
covered many traces of those troubled times.
What PROMPTED the Book.
"His object" says the son, ''was to write
something that would indoctrinate the peo-
pie themselves on the subject Of govern