Page:Men of Mark in America vol 1.djvu/181



OSEPH HUBLEY ASHTON, lawyer, and in 1868-69 acting attorney-general of the United States, was born in Philadelphia, March 11, 1836. His parents were Daniel R. and Elizabeth Ashton, and on the paternal side he is descended from English ancestry. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, in 1854, he began the study of law under William B. Reed and St. George Tucker Campbell, of that city, completing, in the meantime, the law course of the University of Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar October 9, 1855. He became a practising attorney from this date, and has been prominently identified with that profession for nearly half a century, in municipal, state, federal and international tribunals.

In 1860, shortly after his admission to the bar, he became associate editor of "Legal Intelligence," a semi-professional publication. From 1861 to 1864 he was assistant United States district attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. He was an assistant attorney-general of the United States from 1864 to 1867, and in 1868-69, during which period he was twice designated as acting attorney- general, vice Honorable James Speed, July, 1865, and Honorable William M. Evarts, July, 1868.

In the latter year he appeared as the agent and counsel of the United States before the international commission created to adjudicate the claims growing out of the war with Mexico. From this time on, he engaged almost exclusively in practice before federal and international courts, appearing as counsel in a number of celebrated cases, chief among these the following: In 1862, as attorney in behalf of Vice-Admiral Porter and the Mortar Flotilla in the prize cases arising from captures made by Admiral Farragut's fleet at New Orleans; in 1873, and following, counsel for the United States, in the legal issues involved in the franchise and subsidies granted the Union Pacific Railroad Company; in 1885, he appeared before the Venezuelan Claims Commission, as counsel for the United States; and from 1890 to 1897, he represented many Chinese claimants, in