Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/476

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COI.UMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

JU D G E R O B E R T R. L I T T L E, late of Bloomsburg. w as one of the eminent lawyers of Columbia county, holding a leading position at the bar for years. H e had s e r '^ several years a s president judge of the 26th district o f Pennsylvania, made up o f Columbia and Mon­ tour counties, and commanded to an unusual degree Ihc esteem and confidence o f (he pub­ lic and o f his fellow members in (he legal fraternity. J u ^ e Little was bom M ay 30, 1852, at Berwick, Columbia county, son of Ephraim H. and Eliza (Seibert) Little, and belonged to a family which has been in this countrv- from Colonial days, his great­ grandfather. George U ttic, having b ^ a native o f Connecticut, where he passed all his life. H e served throughout (he Revolution as a soldier from that State. George Little, the Ju d ge's grandfather, was born in Connecticut, and when a young man located in Delaware county, N . Y ., subseuently renwving to Bethany, W ayne Co., ’a., where he carried on a tannery for several years. H e finally settled at Montrose, Su s­ quehanna Co., Pa., where he died in 18 5 1, aged seventy. He was a tanner and furrier by trade, but during the latter years o f his life was a merchant, being thus engaged at Montrose. He married M ary Esterbrook, by whom he had six ch ild rai, as follow s; George S., a merchant o f L o raysville; Ralph B., of •Montrose; William E ., o f (Chicago; Ephraim H .; Robert R ., o f Tunkhannock, P a .; and Mar)' L . (irovor, o f Jacksonville, F la. /Ml of the sons were lawyers except George A. Ephraim H. Little was born in Delaware county. N. Y ., March 23, 1823, and was ten years old when the family moved to Montrose. Susquehanna Co.. Fa., where he grew to manhood. In his eighteenth year he began to read law with his brother. Ralph B. Little (then a member of the firm o f I.ocb and Little, o f M ontrose), who was an eminent lawyer and the preceptor o f Justice J. B. M c­ Collum. a distinguished jurist. /t the age o f twenty years he took what money he pos­ sessed and started West for O iicago, by way of the G reat Lakes. B y good fortune he managed to catch the last boat to make the trip tiuit season, .and the journey was a long and tedious one, as the Iioat was greatly dclayc<l by the roughness of the water, which caused a mimber o f accidents. Upon a rriv ­ ing in Chicago, which w as then a mere hamlet, he found himself wilh but twenty-five cents in his ))ockct. and forty miles from his des­ tination. Joliet, III. T h e latter part o f his journey w as to be made by stage, and realizing

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tliat he did not have enough money to pay his fare, he offered the quarter to the driver in consideration that he haul his trunk to the desired place. T his the stage driver refused lo do, saying: “ N o, I will carry you and your baggage and vou can pay me at another lim e." L a d in g in Joliet, M r. Little again look up the study o f law. and in 1845 w as admitted to the bar in Grundy county. 111. Soon after­ wards he purchased the Joliet Sentinel, on credit, and conducted it for six or eight months. H e then sold out and removed to Morris, which a short time previous had been made the county scat o f Grundy county. III. H e was the first Lawyer to locate there. H e continued his practice with much success for a few years, when he met with an accident, his gun being discharged accidentally while he was hunting prairie chickens, which caused him the loss o f an am i. The knowledge of surgery at the time being limited he w as finally compelled to submit to amputation of the injured arm. T his reduced his physical strength greatly and he determined to get out of that im larial section of the country, .acting on his physician’s advice. In 1847 Mr. Little returned East, and tlte next year opened a law office at Tunkhan­ nock, in (849 locating at Beach Haven, L u ­ zerne Co., P a., where he w as appointed wcighmastcr at Weigh Lock, on the 'cnnsylvania canal. 'Hie canal w as under the control of the State, and it had been cu stom an for boats to be run on Sunday, but M r. l.ittle. true to the Christian influences under which he had been reared, refused outright to per­ form his labors on the Sabbath. The boatmen were wroth and petitioned for his rcmo*al, but the governor of the State refused to re­ move him and the canal was thereafter dosed on Sundays. H e held the position two years, and while there made the acquaintance of Eliza Seibert, whom he married Dec. 10, 1850. The spring after they moved to Berwick, Co­ lumbia Co., l’ a „ where he lived until his removal to Bloomsburg in A pril. 1 ^ 0 . He there engaged in the practice o f his profession, and continued with the best o f success until f.anii. a tract o f 135 acres just outside the cor­ porate limits o f liloomshurg. .As a lawyer he was unexcelled and his opin­ ion w as fr^ u cn tly sought by other prominent attom c)'s on intricate legal problems. Ho was a Democrat in his political affiliations, and served three terms as district attorney, to wh'ch office he w as first elected in 18 56 .' Ris­ ing to a place o f prominence in the profes-
 * 893. when he retired and moved upon his