Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/363

 GEORGE SHIRAS, Jr. HIRAS, GEORGE, Jr., graduate of Yale, class of 1853; lawyer in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 1856-92; presidential elector, 1888, associate justice United States Supreme court for eleven years, 1892-1903; was born in Pittsburg, Allegheny county Pennsylvania, January 26, 1832. His father, George Shiras, was a man of standing in his community, possessed a knowledge of men to an uncommon degree and had a local reputation as a wit. His mother was Eliza Blaine, daughter of Francis and Elizabeth (Blaine) Herron. His paternal grandparents were George and Hannah (Perry) Shiras. George Shiras, Jr., was a student in the preparatory department of Ohio Wesleyan university, Athens, Ohio, and was graduated at Yale university in the class of 1853, the class graduating one hundred and eight men and the roll including Wayne MacVeagh, Edmund Clarence Stedman, Andrew Dickson White, Edward Coke Billings, Charlton Thomas Lewis and Randall Lee Gibson, men who like Shiras have acquired a wide national reputation. He studied in Yale law school one year, 1854; was admitted to the bar in 1856, and practised in Pennsylvania, 1857-92. He acquired a reputation that established him as one of the leading lawyers of western Pennsylvania. His name was presented to the Republican members of the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1881 as candidate for United States senator after a deadlock had made it necessary to select a third candidate, and when proposed he was nominated by a majority of two, but the vote was reconsidered and John Inscho Mitchell, of Wellsboro, was made the candidate of the party and elected as successor to William A. Wallace, Democrat. He was a presidential elector on the Harrison and Morton ticket in 1888, and in 1892 when a vacancy occurred on the bench of United States Supreme court by reason of the death of Mr. Justice Bradley on January 22 of that year, President Harrison, appointed Mr. Shiras to be associate justice of the United States Supreme court. The appointment was confirmed by the senate and he took the oath of office October 10, 1892. When the question as to the constitutionality of the income tax, (created by the bill imposing a tax upon all incomes above four thousand dollars which became a