The Address Of C. Larue Munson, at the 1895 Lycoming Centennial
President Beeber then introduced C. LaRue Munson, Esq., who delivered the following historical oration on the past of Lycoming County:
HISTORICAL ORATION.
Tinder the permission of a Divine Providence we are assembled to celebrate the completion of one hundred years of our county's history; to place upon Lycoming's brow her centennial crown, and to mark the auspicious commencement of the second century of her existence.
Backward, we glance over the record of her progress, years fraught with resplendent memories of the past; forward we look into a future to be filled with achievements more glorious than have yet been accomplished. This is the day of our opportunity to do honor to those pioneers who laid Lycoming's foundations, remembering that, like them, when another centennial dawns upon her history,
"We all within our graves shall sleep;
No living soul for us shall weep."
So now we place this mile-stone in the path of her mighty progress, showing to those who come after us that we are not unmindful of our duty, not lacking in that patriotism always so pre-eminent in the character of her citizens, nor wanting in that respect and honor so well the due of our ancient country.
A hundred years is but a little thing in the illimitable arc of time, but for the American citizen of to-day the past century has covered a period so momentous in our Nation's progress that we note with wonder the mighty changes it has evolved. Rolling back the wheels of time and placing ourselves, for a moment, in the period of the year 1795, Lycoming's natal day, we are compelled to observe the great contrast with our country of the present. Our Nation was then but as a youth, its existence having been less than fourteen years; our independence had been recognized by the Treaty of Paris only twelve years; while our constitution, the noblest instrument ever written by the hand of man, the very bulwark of our liberties, had been ratified by the States of the Union but seven years earlier than our county's birth. In number the United States were but fifteen, all lying east of the Mississippi River, and covering less than one-third of our present vast territory.
The great Louisiana Purchase of 1803, obtained from Napoleon at a cost but trifling compared with its present enormous value, but sufficient to obtain munitions of war whereby he hoped to become the master of Europe, the Texas Annexation of 1845, and the Northwest and Mexican Cessions of 1846 and 1848, trebling our territory and so vastly increasing our wealth and importance as a Nation; — all these were in the womb of time when Lycoming County was erected, and were outside the dreams of the most sanguine American.
The entire population of the United States was then but little more than four millions, and was almost entirely confined between the Alleghenies and the Atlantic, the most thickly settled portions being along the chief river courses and about commodious harbors.
But five cities numbered a population exceeding ten thousand. There was then no Chicago, no St. Louis, no San Francisco, no Twin Cities of the North-west, none of the hundreds of cities, many of them now boasting an enumeration in the hundreds of thousands, and but few, and those widely scattered, of the thousands of prosperous villages now dotting our fair land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and all included within the domain of a great Nation, the most powerful, the most progressive, and the most Divinely favored in all the wide world.
In 1795 we were looked upon by the nations of the earth as but an experiment, and a doubtful one at that; our institutions of government were most novel, and our constitution almost untried, and wholly unproven; jealousies existed between the states, sectional feeling was most intense; we were far from being a homogeneous people, and many of the wisest and best of our Nation's leaders trembled for the future, fearing, and with no little cause, that the Union of States was not cemented by bands certain to hold them together under all the changes which they foresaw must come upon our country. When Lycoming County was named, George Washington was President of the United States. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and many other statesmen, were at the helm of the ship of state, and through their patriotism, and by the guidance of an overruling Providence, a foundation was being laid for a Union, which has proven one and indissoluble, permanent and continuing, and destined to remain while time itself shall last. Of these early leaders it has been well said that they were,
"Men who their duties knew, But knew their rights, and, knowing, dared maintain; These were they who built the state."
Not only in its political situation, but as well in its material advantages, our country was then vastly inferior to her present condition. At the close of the eighteenth century the mighty power of steam was but dimly known, and only crudely applied as a motive power; the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, and the forces of electricity were in the future; manufactures and commerce, in our land, were in their very infancy, while agriculture, the chief occupation of the people, was pursued without any of the modern aids, and its products marketed, if at all, with great difficulty and meagre returns. In education the people were almost illiterate, the public school system being then unknown, and the newspapers, in number then less than three score in the whole land, being but insignificant and but little circulated. It is worthy of note, in this connection, that the Pennsylvania Grit, a well-known publication of Williamsport, now prints as many copies weekly as were then issued by all the newspapers in the whole land; more than 20,000 of them being sent west of the Mississippi River to regions then beyond the limits of the United States. With all the progress made by the American people during the past century our county has kept even pace, while her citizens have had their full share in the mighty evolution which has made this Nation all that it is, and much of what it will be in the centuries to come.
1796 Map Showing Lycoming County
The vast territory of the original county of Lycoming, twelve thousand square miles in extent, covering more than one-fourth of Pennsylvania, nearly equal in size to both Massachusetts and Connecticut, and including much more than the entire water-shed of the West Branch Valley, — a region now renowned for its natural wealth, its agriculture, manufactures and trade, for its charms of nature, the beauty of its daughters and the enterprise of its sons, — all this land less than three centuries ago was entirely unknown to the white man.
It was covered with dense forests, watered by streams much larger than those of the present day, and was the home and hunting ground of a race now entirely extinct, and of whom but little is known. The Algonquin tribes, of Andastes, Susquehannocks, Lenni-
Lenapes and Monseys, were brave and warlike Indians who occupied the valleys of the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River from a time now lost in the mists of antiquity, but who left behind them mounds and fortifications evidencing their numbers, and so ancient that it is believed they were in existence hundreds of years ago. With these aborigines a war of extermination was waged by the famous Iroquois, or Six Nations, whose confederacy was so great, it is said by historians, that their domain, at one period, included all the territory east of the Mississippi. These conquerors, after a warfare of at least a century, ruled these valleys through their representatives, of whom the most famous was the wise and good vice-king, Shikellimy, noted for his humane treatment of the early settlers.
The first white man to visit the West Branch was Etienne Brule, who came here in 1615 on behalf of Champlain, the French Governor of Canada, seeking the assistance of the Andastes tribe in his attacks on the Iroquois. On his return, Brule gave an interesting account of his journeys, describing, among other large Indian settlements, a palisade town of the Andastes of more than 4,000 souls, and situated in the valley of the Muncy Creek. More than a century elapsed before the feet of another white man trod this region, when Conrad Weiser, an Indian trader, traveled through these valleys, in 1737, leaving a record of his experiences of thrilling interest. He was followed in 1742 by Count Zinzendorf, a Moravian missionary, who passed over the West Branch, accompanied by his daughter; certainly the first white woman to explore this section.
Thus the three great forces of civilization, — religion, trade and warfare, — were the pioneers here, as they have always been in every newly discovered land. While our section of the country was still unknown it passed by a purchase, claimed if not proven, to Thomas Dongan, Governor of the Province of New York, who maintained his title through a grant from the Six Nations. This he conveyed to William Penn, by a deed dated January 12, 1696, for the consideration of £100, a sum which to-day would purchase but a very small piece of that vast domain. This conveyance was confirmed to Penn by treaties with the Six Nations, concluded April 1, 1701, and June 7, 1737, and included a part of what is now Lycoming County. By another treaty, signed November 5, 1768, additional land was granted to the Penn Proprietaries,
which, with that made October 23, 1784, at Fort Stanwix, now Rome, New York, completed the acquisition from the Indians of all the territory of Pennsylvania. It should be the proud boast of every citizen of our Commonwealth, that all her domain was obtained by fair purchase from its original owners, and not by right of conquest.
William Penn, as well as his successors, did not depend alone upon their grants from the English Crown, claiming title by discovery, but secured their lands by honorable treaty with those who had long owned and occupied them; unlike some settlers upon other portions of America's soil, of whose landing on the shores of the new land it has been so well said:
"First they fell upon their knees,
And then upon the aborigines."
"And proved their religion orthodox
By Apostolic blows and knocks."
The fertile lands opened up for settlement by these purchases from the Indians, attracted emigration from all parts of the country. At the close of the war of the Revolution, in 1783, there was a decided movement towards this valley, and its population rapidly increased. The majority of the early settlers on the lower waters of the West Branch were from New Jersey, being largely composed of sturdy Scotch-Irish and thrifty Quakers. They were bold pioneers, and established themselves in their new home with a courage and determination needed to obtain a settlement in a country where they took their lives in their hands, and lived in constant fear from Indian depredations, and of attacks from wild beasts. Could such a census have been taken, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to suggest that these early settlers were largely outnumbered, both by Indians looking for their scalps, and by panthers and bears seeking their flesh for food.
Time fails to tell of the many trials and tribulations of these brave pioneers; of the massacres they suffered at the hands of their cruel neighbors; of the loss of their crops and destruction of their homes; of the many dangers they were compelled to undergo, and of the distressing incidents of their daily life. They lived in a new land, far removed from civilization; they were without means of transportation; they lacked the advantages of education, and were unblessed with the solace of religious services; but they were aresolute and courageous people, God-serving and industrious, and left behind them a record marking their high character, and evidencing a firm determination to bring a civilization out of the wilderness, a free and enlightened government from barbarism, and to leave to those who should come after them prosperous and happy homes.
No better illustration of the character of our early settlers can be found than the history of an event, but little known and unheralded by fame, which stands pre-eminent in the annals of the West Branch Valley, and well proves the patriotism and love of freedom which filled the hearts of the founders of fair Lycoming. We must not be unmindful that this day celebrates, not only the centennial of our county, but, as well, the one hundred and nineteenth anniversary of that Declaration of Independence whose sound has gone out into all lands, and whose echoes will not cease to reverberate around the earth so long as men love liberty and seek to live under a government by the people, for the people and of the people.
We turn, then, to another Declaration of Independence, happening on the same day with that more widely known, but proclaimed within the bounds of the county. On July 4, 1776, there assembled on the plains of Pine Creek, and not far from the present borough of Jersey Shore, a number of our early settlers, and, in convention met, after patriotic speeches appropriate to the subject, adopted formal resolutions absolving themselves from all allegiance to Great Britain, and declaring that they were thenceforward a free and independent people. Distant more than two hundred miles from Philadelphia, where other American citizens were making a similar declaration, and without possibility of any knowledge of what was then transpiring, beyond some information of a general movement of the Colonies in that direction, these brave forefathers of our county performed an act, as a coincidence, unparalleled in history; all the more noble that it was not within the sound of the applause of their fellow-citizens, nor likely to bring them fame and honor, but solely upon the broad ground of a love for liberty; taking this resolute step as men seeking that freedom which is of God, and, even in that far off region, as dear to their hearts as was life itself.
1969 Map Showing Fair Play Territory
These pioneers lived in a section then in dispute between the white men and the Indians, the controversy being whether Lycoming or Pine Creek was the western boundary of the purchase of 1768 — the Indians falsely contending for the former, and the whites claiming the latter as the true line. The Proprietary Government declined permission of legal settlement
in this debated territory, and refused the protection of its laws over that section; hence it became a sort of "no-man's land," and those who did settle there were unaided in their defense
against the attacks of the Indians, — more frequent and fierce by reason of the dispute over the land, — and were compelled to frame their own laws, which they did in the famous Fair Play System, as unique as it was just. Under this system, continuing until the treaty of 1784, all disputes were settled by commissioners, duly chosen by the settlers, under their code, which seems to have been entirely equitable, although its precise terms are now unknown. These decisions were final, both in civil and criminal cases, and were enforced, if necessary, by putting the unruly member in a canoe, rowing him to the mouth of Lycoming Creek, and there sending him adrift down the river. The historians of the West Branch, illustrating the workings of the Fair Play System, delight to tell of the answer of a witness to a question propounded by Chief Justice McKean, some years later, inquiring as to the customs of the earlier code:
"All I can say is," said the witness, "that since your Honor's courts have come among us, fair play has entirely ceased, and law has taken its place."
1795 Map Before Lycoming County Was Formed
Of the mother of Lycoming, old Northumberland, another has given us an eloquent and learned account during this our centennial week. For twenty-three years after her organization, in 1772, the inhabitants of the West Branch Valley transacted their business at her county seat at Sunbury. So long as the northward population remained so small but little inconvenience was felt, and no efforts were made for a change; but with the growth incident to the emigration after the war of the Revolution the settlers of the upper valleys began to feel the need of a new county.
To reach Sunbury the large streams of Pine, Lycoming, Loyalsock and Muncy Creeks, as well as the river at Northumberland, must be crossed, and as there were no bridges and the streams were often swollen, much difficulty and danger were experienced. So, as early as 1786, an attempt was made to organize a new county west of the Muncy Hills, but met with much opposition from the people of Sunbury, whose county was the largest in the Commonwealth, and who desired to maintain its territory and prestige. In addition to this local antagonism, strenuous efforts against the new county were made, although secretly, by Robert Morris, the famous financier of the Revolution, and by other great land owners. The cause for this opposition does not clearly appear, but it is certain that it existed, and so long as these opponents prospered the scheme for the new county languished; but when they failed, and lost their influence, it became successful. The movement for a new county was delayed, for a time, by an effort to remove the county seat of Northumberland to a more western and central location; but, on the defeat of that attempt, was again revived, until, at every session of the Legislature during a number of years, petitions for the new county were presented and urgently moved to a successful issue. The number of the petitioners had grown from very few until, later, they numbered nearly a thousand, and included every settler between the Muncy Hills and the Bald Eagle Valley.
A greater impetus was given the movement in the election of the Honorable William Hepburn as a State Senator, in 1794. Judge Hepburn was a distinguished citizen of the West Branch Valley, and, owning considerable property within the limits of what is now William sport, recognized the need of a new county and was active in the efforts made to obtain the division. Soon after taking his seat in the Senate he was made chairman of a special committee to bring in a bill to divide Northumberland County.
On March 7, 1795, the Act was introduced, and was finally passed and approved April 13th. There was much discussion as to a name for the new county — Jefferson, Muncy and Susquehanna each having its adherents — but the title was finally given it, taken from Lycoming Creek, a corruption of the Indian words Legane-hanne, signifying a sandy stream.
The territory of the original Lycoming County was greater than that of seven of the states of the Union, extended as far west as the present Kittanning, and included all that portion of Pennsylvania lying west of the North Branch, bounded by the water-shed of the West Branch and much of that of the Allegheny and Clarion rivers. More than two-thirds of this spacious region was then an unexplored and unknown wilderness. There were but few roads, and those only in the eastern end of the county, and no bridges over its many and, at times, turbulent streams. The population was about 4,100, nearly all being east of the present Lock Haven. There was but little improved land, and but few dwellings, and those chiefly the rude cabins of the pioneers, while dark forests covered almost its entire surface, through which lurked the savage Indian and the ferocious wild beast.
1861 Map Of Lycoming County
We cannot but pause to contemplate the wondrous changes made in this vast region during the past century. From its forests have been taken timber valued in hundreds of millions of dollars, and entering into the construction of thousands of buildings in this and other sections of the country. Two great oil fields, — those of the Clarion River and of McKean County, — have spouted forth untold wealth; while from the bowels of the earth have been raised millions of tons of bituminous coal, furnishing motive power in a large section of the United States, and speeding many a mighty steamship over the bosom of the deep. Highly cultivated lands are to be seen in all its portions, prosperous cities and boroughs dot the landscape; railroads cross its face in every direction, great and famous manufactories are found in all its parts, and in every section of its territory dwell a people, highly enlightened and cultured; while education's benign influence, and the highest civilization and refinement abound on all sides. From its mighty area eighteen other counties have been formed, in part or in whole; its meagre population of 4,000 has swollen to more than 600,000; its seven townships have increased to 400 election districts; from one little village of a handful of souls have grown three beautiful cities and 77 boroughs, of nearly two hundred thousand people; and from an assessment of but a few thousands it has advanced to a valuation equal to the wealth of a kingdom. Could we but bring back old Shikellemy, that great and good Indian, and place him upon our highest mountain, how eloquently could he utter the beautiful lines of the poet:
"Look now abroad — another race has filled;
These populous borders — wide the wood recedes,
And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are tilled;
New colonies forth, that toward the western seas
Spread like a rapid flame among the autumnal trees."
Returning to the early days and taking up the thread of our historical review, to be confined to that portion of the original territory included within the present county of Lycoming, we find the first matter of importance appealing to the attention of our early citizens was the location of the county seat. For this honor there was a fierce struggle, three embryonic villages contending for the prize. The most confident of winning was Jaysburg, a little settlement now forgotten and long since swallowed up in Williamsport.
There temporary quarters had been established for the court and its officials, and it was hoped that the selection would be made permanent. Dunnstown was entered for the race by its sole proprietor and inhabitant, who had set apart land for the public buildings. But William Hepburn, through whose active efforts the new county had been secured, joined by Michael Ross, the owner of the site of the original Williamsport, presented the claims of that place as being the proper location. Their rivals contended that Williamsport was but a swamp and subject to inundations, — aspersions we would have joined with its champions in maintaining were vile slanders, — and went so far as to assert that it existed only on paper, and could not be dignified by even the name of a village
The battle for the location grew more fierce, until the Jaysburgers sent a messenger to the Commissioners armed with affidavits against Williams port's qualifications. That the message was never delivered is not denied, but the exact manner of its loss is hid in the mists of obscurity. Whether the messenger fainted by the way, was delayed by a visit to an ancient inn, or floundered in a swamp, cannot now be told; but it is certain that the Hepburn-Ross party won, and that in this, as since then in all else, Williamsport came out first best. For some years the court migrated from tavern to tavern for its sessions, while its offices were still more uncertain, being sometimes in Jaysburg, sometimes elsewhere, and often in the pockets of its only official, the eccentric John Kidd.
In process of time proper buildings for the county's use were erected, which have been succeeded by others still more costly and more suitable to its needs and importance.
Time fails us to review the growth of our county from its small beginnings. All this has been well set forth by our learned townsman and renowned historian, Mr. John F. Meginness, in his exhaustive History of the West Branch Valley, the History of Lycoming County, and his various other valuable works. It is a great pleasure to refer to these labors of love of our distinguished citizen. He has written with the pen of a ready writer, and with evidences of patient study and thorough investigation. We have failed to appreciate the labor of Mr. Meginness in thus preserving the records of the past; but, when all of us shall be forgotten, his works will remain, and future generations will honor his name as of one who, without hope of pecuniary reward, gave his time and means to the perpetuation of the history of the early settlers of these valleys, and of the records of this section of our Commonwealth.
Not only is this the anniversary of our county, but it is also the centennial of Williamsport, and of the history and growth of our fair city some mention is due. The origin of its name has not been undisputed. By some it is accorded to William, the elder son of Michael Ross; others have claimed it for Joseph Williams, an early surveyor, who was engaged by Ross to lay out the new town; but the stronger evidence and the most trustworthy traditions ascribe the honor to William Hepburn, — certainly the most prominent of the first settlers, and, by reason of his active efforts in securing the new county, entitled to name its county seat. He was the first judge of its courts and a man of wealth and influence, and when, in recognition of his services, the citizens proposed to call the town Hepburn's Port, he modestly objected and suggested Williamsport, which was finally adopted. It was at first a very small village, and had not increased beyond a population of 131 at the beginning of this century, and but very little more when it was incorporated as a borough, in 1806.
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The first house in Williamsport was the Russell Inn, at the corner of Third and Mulberry streets, erected in 1796, and destroyed in the great fire of 1871. The oldest building, now standing, is the brick dwelling, formerly the mansion house of the Hon. William Hepburn, erected in 1801 at what is now the foot of Park Street. The growth of the borough was very slow, for, as late as 1829, there were but 150 dwellings within its limits, besides eight stores and eight taverns. This equality between the number of its places of business and of liquid refreshments is a curious commentary upon those early days. Fortunately, for the temperance
cause, this proportion has not been continued in more modern days.
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The Brick Hepburn Mansion
Williamsport, like other similarly favored places in the state, was materially assisted by the advent of the canal, opened here in 1833. One of the chief difficulties suffered by the early inhabitants was the want of proper means of transportation, affording facilities in marketing their products. The first roads were of the crudest, character, and as the streams were without bridges, the movement of freight was very difficult and costly. Prior to the opening of the public waterways the river was used for floating arks laden with grain, flour and other products of the valley, but as their use largely depended upon the stage of the water, and they were often subject to shipwreck, but little could be accomplished. As an illustration of the
means of transportation, and its cost, in the early part of the century, it is stated that in 1817 more than 12,000 wagons crossed the Alleghenies, each carrying about two tons of merchandise, from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Pittsburg, and at a cost of $140 per ton. Now, in a single day, the Pennsylvania Railroad carries more than all that tonnage between those points, and at a cost of about one-sixtieth the former expense.
1854 Lithograph, "View Of Williamsport" [Looking East]
Showing a canal boat on the west branch canal
The first railroad in our county was the old strap road, between Williamsport and Ralston, opened in 1837, and still remembered by our older citizens. This subsequently became a part of the Northern Central Railway, followed, in 1855, by the present Philadelphia and Erie, by the Philadelphia and Reading, in 1871, the Beech Creek and Pine Creek, in 1883, and by the Williamsport and North Branch, and the Central Pennsylvania and Western, still more recently; thus giving us most excellent railroad facilities over rival routes of transportation, and opening our manufactories and the products of our forests and mines to all the markets of the country.
But that which has made Williamsport most famous, bringing her great wealth and enormously increasing her population, is the manufacture of lumber and its kindred products, a trade which has here long since attained vast proportions. The first saw mill of any importance was erected in 1838, known as the Big Water Mill, which, in 1846, became the property of the late Maj. James H. Perkins, one of Williamsport's most honored citizens, and, through his early labors as a pioneer in the lumber trade, the admitted father of that industry in our city. Through his enterprise the first boom was placed in the river to catch the floating logs, and was followed by the erection of many great mills, leading to the development of the manufacture of lumber and, through it, to the prodigious growth of Williamsport. The charter for the Susquehanna Boom was secured in 1846, its construction being completed five years later, and from that time dates our commercial prosperity. So great did the lumber industry become that at one time we were the leading market for that product in the whole country, reaching an output in 1873, the high-water mark of the trade, of nearly 320,000,000 feet. Exact figures are not at hand, but it is not an overestimate to say that since the boom was built 10,000 millions of feet of logs have been rafted out and manufactured into their products, furnishing employment to thousands of men and bringing to our city millions of dollars.
We would be derelict in our duty if we did not refer to another of our citizens, now gone to his rest, whose untiring efforts and wonderful energy did so much to build up Williamsport, and to advance her prosperity and enlarge her population. No public shaft is graven with a record of his deeds, but in the valley, below the beautiful Wildwood where he sleeps, there lies a fair city which, in no small degree, is a monument to his enterprise more noble and lasting than could be any of granite or marble. Time heals all wounds, and cures all ill feelings, and the day will come when, honoring themselves as well, our enterprising citizens will erect a stately shaft on which will be inscribed, "To the memory of one who found Williamsport a village, and made it a beautiful city — Peter Herdic."
Turn we now to a future of our county and city more glorious than has been their past. We lift the veil from what shall be the second centennial of our dear old county. We see a greater Williamsport, crossing the river and stretching over all the beautiful hills on both its shores — shores securely defended from the river's mighty risings; we see its streets filled with a quarter of a million of inhabitants, on every side magnificent public buildings and beautiful private residences; we see a people favored of God and respected of man, citizens of a still more glorious nation, and enjoying advantages of which man has never yet dreamed. We see a county second to none other in the prosperity of its cititzens, five hundred thousand people calling it their home, and many more looking up to it as a dear old mother, toward which they turn their hearts and faces at that her second centennial, even of greater success than crowns our efforts to-day.
"O fair Lycoming! On thy brow
Shall rest a nobler grace than now.
Deep in the brightness of thy skies
The thronging years in glory rise,
And, as they fleet,
Drop strength and riches at thy feet."
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Cyrus Larue Munson
1854-1922
Cyrus LaRue Munson, who is among the most eminent and highly successful lawyers of Pennsylvania, and whose home is at Williamsport, where he is an important member of the bar and a leading spirit in all that tends toward the present day prosperity of that flourishing city, is descended from American ancestry through the following direct line from Thomas Munson, an English emigrant in the early part of the 17th century.
Cyrus LaRue Munson, son of Edgar and Lucy Maria (Curtis) Munson (VIII), was born in Bradford, New York, July 2, 1854. His earliest ancestors were leaders in the Puritan exodus to the Massachusetts and New Haven Colonies, and the man of whom this notice is written well represents the stalwart, aggressive and progressive type of manhood which predominated in those earlier centuries among the settlers of New England.
After receiving a good primary education in private schools he entered the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut, at Cheshire, in 1868, (numbering among its alumni J. Pierpont Morgan, General Joseph Wheeler, and other distinguished men), and there graduated as valedictorian of his class in June, 1871. After leaving this school he entered his father's lumber office in Williamsport, and also commenced the study of law in the office of Allen & Gamble, then leaders of the bar of Lycoming county. In September, 1873, Mr. Munson entered the Yale Law School at New Haven, Connecticut, graduating from that institution July 1, 1875, receiving the degree LL. B., and the same day was admitted to the bar of Connecticut, this being the day before he became of age. In September, 1875, he entered into law partnership with Addison Candor, as Candor & Munson, who for more than thirty years have continued in the active practice of their profession at Williamsport. In 189o Mr. Munson was elected by the corporation of Yale University a regular lecturer on legal practice, and has since continuously filled that position at the Yale Law School. He received the honorary degree of M. A. from his Alma Mater in 1891. In 1897 lie wrote a well known law book entitled "Manual of Elementary Practice," which is an authority as a text book in a number of law schools. In 1902 he was elected and served one year as president of the Pennsylvania State Bar Association, and in 1904 was elected president of the Yale Law School Alumni Association. He is also associated with the well known lawyer, James B. Dill, Esq., and has an office with him at No. 27 Pine Street, New York City.
Mr. Munson is the senior warden of Christ Episcopal Church and is prominently connected with church affairs in the diocese of Harrisburg. Of his society relations it may be said that lie is a thirty-second degree Mason and in 1902 was Eminent Commander of Baldwin II No. 22 Commandery of Knights Templar. He is also a trustee of the James V. Brown Memorial Library of Williamsport, having been chosen to that position by the city councils of Williamsport. He is a member of the Ross Club, the Howard Club of Knights Templar, and of the Young Men's Democratic Club, of Williamsport, and also of the Manhattan Club and the Yale Club of New York and the University Club of Philadelphia. He is also a member of the Bar Association of the City of New York, of the Society of Colonial Wars in Pennsylvania, and of the Pennsylvania Society in New York.
Aside from his extensive legal practice, Mr. Munson is connected with and president of a large number of the most thriving business enterprises of his city and vicinity. Among these may be named the presidency of the Savings Institution of Williamsport, the E. Keeler Company, the Williamsport Iron & Nail Company, the Eagles Mere Light Company and the Scootac Railway Company. Among other corporations with which he is associated as a director are these : Lycoming National Bank, Williamsport Passenger Railway Company, Citizens Water & Gas Company, Williamsport & North Branch Railroad Company, American Wood Working Machinery Company, John N. Stearns & Company, of New York, Burns Fire Brick Company, Demorest Sewing Machine Company, Royal Braid Manufacturing Company, Williamsport Wire Rope Company, and other enterprises of much financial importance and local pride.
Perhaps no one thing brought the present day prosperity to Williamsport so much as did the organization of the Williamsport Board of Trade, which Mr. Munson and a few others formed, and through the methods they followed industry after industry was brought to Williamsport and a new life given a city once apparently retrograding by reason of the waning of the lumber business upon which the place originally depended for support.
Mr. Munson married Josephine Anthony, daughter of Hon. Henry and Catherine (Anthony) White, November 8, 1877. She died July 26, 1889. October 20, 1891, he married Minnie Wright, daughter of Ackley Post and Jennie (Bailey) Tuller, of Rome, New York. Mr. Munson's children are Edgar, born June 24, 1881, and George Sharp, born October 2, 1883, and both graduates of Yale College in the class of 1904, receiving the degree of B. A., and now students at the Yale Law School.
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