Wilmer W. MacElree | |
---|---|
Born | Wilmer Worthington MacElree December 17, 1859 |
Died | January 16, 1960 100) | (aged
Burial place | Oaklands Cemetery |
Other names | W. W. MacElree |
Occupation(s) | lawyer, author |
Political party | Republican |
Wilmer Worthington MacElree (December 17, 1859 – January 16, 1960) was an American lawyer and author of Along the Western Brandywine and other books on the history and natural environment of Chester County, Pennsylvania. He served as Chester County district attorney for six years.
MacElree was born on December 17, 1859, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His parents were Mariah (née Buffington) and James MacElree. His Irish-born father had immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1827 and settled in West Chester in 1852; his mother belonged to an old local family. MacElree attended public schools in West Chester, read law with John J. Pinkerton, and gained admittance to the county bar in 1880. [1] [2]
MacElree founded the law firm of MacElree Harvey, Ltd., which is still extant, [3] and practiced law in West Chester until his retirement in 1956. [4] He served as Chester County district attorney from 1897 to 1900 and again from 1906 to 1909. [5] He defended six of the men who allegedly lynched Zachariah Walker in 1911. In his reminiscences, MacElree called the victim a "worthless negro from Virginia." As "the legal sage of Chester County," MacElree's defense role was instrumental in obtaining the acquittals from the jury. [6]
A member of the Republican Party, [1] MacElree ran for judge of the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas but lost the election in a landslide to two-term incumbent Joseph Hemphill in 1909. Hemphill had received the endorsement of the Democratic Party and the backing of many Republicans in the election. [7]
An enthusiastic amateur historian, MacElree lectured widely and published privately at least four books and many "sentimental" sketches and essays about the events, people, landmarks, and natural environment of Chester County. [8] Active in the Westminster Presbyterian Church and serving ten years as a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, [9] he helped to establish Sunday schools across the county. [1]
On January 18, 1884, MacElree married Ella Eyre of West Chester. They had three children, two of whom survived to adulthood. [1] Their son, James Paul MacElree, attended the University of Pennsylvania, joined his father's law firm in 1908, and served as presiding judge of the Chester County Orphan's Court. [4] [2]
The elder MacElree died of heart disease in East Bradford Township, Pennsylvania, on January 16, 1960, at the age of 100. [4] He was interred at Oaklands Cemetery just outside West Chester. [10]
As an author, MacElree was well known in Chester County. Berenice Ball enjoyed MacElree's walks Along the Western Brandywine and travels Around the Boundaries of Chester County (1934), which constituted "fascinating-to-read forays into Chester County's past along Indian Trails, streams and early thoroughfares." [11] Side Lights on the Bench and Bar of Chester County (1918) received praise from historian Charles William Heathcote, who declared that MacElree had "contributed materially to legal history" and observed that the book showed evidence of "a careful study of court records and an intimate knowledge of the characters of leading lawyers and judges from the organization of the court to the early years of the present century." [5]
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Chester County, colloquially referred to as Chesco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the Delaware Valley region, located in the southeastern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 534,413, increasing by 7.1% from 498,886 in 2010. The county seat is the Borough of West Chester. The most populous of its 73 municipalities is Tredyffrin Township. The most populous boroughs are West Chester and Phoenixville. Coatesville is the only municipality in the County organized under the City form of government, a technical rather than demographic distinction. Chester County was one of the three original Pennsylvania counties created by William Penn in 1682. It was named for Chester, England.
Coatesville is a city in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,350 at the 2020 census. Coatesville is approximately 39 miles west of Philadelphia. It developed along the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike beginning in the late 18th century. It spans U.S. Route 30, the "Main Line" highway that runs west of Philadelphia.
Thornbury Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,017 at the 2010 census. It is adjacent to, and was once joined with, Thornbury Township, Delaware County.
Brandywine Creek is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine is 20.4 miles (32.8 km) long and is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River with several tributary streams. The East Branch and West Branch of the creek originate within 2 miles (3 km) of each other on the slopes of Welsh Mountain in Honey Brook Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of their confluence.
Pennsylvania Route 162 is a 10.1-mile-long (16.3 km) state highway in southeast Pennsylvania. The western terminus of the route is at PA 82/PA 842 in Unionville, Chester County. The eastern terminus is at U.S. Route 322 Business in West Chester. PA 162 is known as Embreeville Road from its western terminus to the village of Embreeville and Telegraph Road from Embreeville to an intersection with Strasburg Road west of Marshallton. At this point, the route turns east, following Strasburg Road to US 322 Bus. in West Chester. The portion of road between Marshallton and West Chester follows the 17th-century Great Minquas Path and became part of the Strasburg Road linking Strasburg and Philadelphia in the 1770s. PA 162 was designated onto its current alignment by 1930.
Oaklands Cemetery is a rural cemetery founded in 1854 in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania. It is located at 1042 Pottstown Pike and is approximately 26 acres (0.11 km2) in size.
Star Gazers' Stone located on Star Gazers' Farm near Embreeville, Pennsylvania, USA, marks the site of a temporary observatory established in January 1764 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon which they used in their survey of the Mason-Dixon line. The stone was placed by Mason and Dixon about 700 feet (213 m) north of the Harlan House, which was used as a base of operations by Mason and Dixon through the four-and-a-half-year-long survey. Selected to be about 31 miles (50 km) west of the then southernmost point in Philadelphia, the observatory was used to determine the precise latitude of its location. The latitude of the Maryland-Pennsylvania border was then set to be 15 miles (24.1 km) south of the point in Philadelphia. The farm, including the house and stone, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 9, 1985. In 2013 construction was completed on a parking area to allow public access to Star Gazers Stone.
Strasburg Road was an early road in Pennsylvania connecting Philadelphia to Strasburg in Lancaster County. The route was surveyed by John Sellers and others in 1772-3 under the colonial administration of Governor Richard Penn and completed under the new administration of the independent state of Pennsylvania. The route started at the "second ferry" on the Schuylkill River, today's Market Street in Philadelphia, and went through West Chester, East Fallowfield Township, and Gap, before ending in Strasburg. Earlier roads travelled much the same route, including a Native American path in use as early as 1620.
Cope's Bridge is a stone arch bridge that carries Strasburg Road across the East Branch Brandywine Creek in East Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is located within the Taylor–Cope Historic District.
Hannah Freeman, also known as "Indian Hannah," was a Lenape healer, artisan, and farmer who historically was thought to be the last surviving member of the Lenape in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The Forks of the Brandywine Presbyterian Church, sometimes called Brandywine Manor Presbyterian Church, is a historic church located in West Brandywine Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania at 1648 Horseshoe Pike, about 4 miles southwest of the crossroads of Glenmoore.
The lynching of Zachariah Walker occurred on August 13, 1911, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. A white mob attacked and burned African American steelworker Zachariah Walker alive in retaliation for reportedly killing Edgar Rice, a white Worth Brothers Steel company police officer.
Wilmer Worthington was an American politician and physician who served in the Pennsylvania Senate from 1864 through 1869, serving as Speaker in 1869. A member of the Republican Party while in the Senate, Worthington previously served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1833 to 1834.
Thomas Sloan Bell Sr. was an American judge, politician, and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party from West Chester, Bell served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1846 to 1851 and as a Pennsylvania State Senator from 1838 to 1839 and 1858 to 1860. He was the father of Union Army Colonel Thomas S. Bell Jr.
David Townsend was an American banker, botanist, and civic leader from Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was a lifelong friend and business associate of noted botanist William Darlington and was a founder and chief cashier of the National Bank of Chester County. The plant genus Townsendia was named in his honor.
Joseph McClellan was an American soldier, farmer, and politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Continental Army captain during the American Revolutionary War. Wounded during the Yorktown campaign and invalidated out of the army, he later served in the Pennsylvania State Senate and became brevet colonel of militia.
Henry Martyn McIntire was an American lawyer and soldier who served as lieutenant colonel of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment during the American Civil War. Severely wounded at the Battle of Glendale in June 1862, he resigned from the Union Army and succumbed to his wounds six months later.
William Bell Waddell was an American politician and judge from Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing Chester County from 1865 to 1867. He also served in the Pennsylvania Senate from 1872 to 1873.
J. Smith Futhey was an American historian and presiding judge of the 15th judicial district comprising Chester County, Pennsylvania, from 1879 until his death.
[{Category:District attorneys in Chester County, Pennsylvania]]