Husband Gen. Alfred Brunson McCalmont 1 2 3 4
Born: 28 Apr 1825 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 1 2
Christened:
Died: 7 May 1874 - Philadelphia, PA 2 5 6
Buried: - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 7
Father: Judge Alexander McCalmont (1785-1857) 8 9
Mother: Elizabeth Hart Connely (1801-1874) 10 11
Marriage: 25 Apr 1853 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 6
• Biographical Sketch: from Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 (New York: Atlantic Publishing & Engraving Co., 1889).
To read this brief sketch of his life and career, click here.
Wife Sarah Frances Evans 12
Born: 1829 6
Christened:
Died: 1898 6
Buried: 18 Aug 1898 - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 13
Father: Evan Reese Evans (1802-1837) 14 15
Mother: Valeria Collins ( -Bef 1853)
Children
1 F Lydia Collins McCalmont 16 17
Born: 12 Feb 1854 - Franklin, Venango Co, PA 6
Christened:
Died: 22 Nov or 24 Nov 1889 16 18
Buried: 22 Nov 1889 - Franklin Cemetery, Franklin, Venango Co, PA 13
Spouse: Thomas McGough (1851-1915) 19 20
Marr: Jan 1886 - ? Venango Co, PA 16
2 F Sarah Lowry McCalmont 6
Born: 7 Jun 1856 6
Christened:
Died: Bef 1919
Buried:
Spouse: W. U. Lewisson ( - ) 21
3 M Robert McCalmont 3
Born: 18 Sep 1859 - Washington, D. C. 3
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Jessie Benton Crawford ( - ) 22
General Notes: Husband - Gen. Alfred Brunson McCalmont
General Alfred B. McCalmont was for many years a leading lawyer of Franklin. He was for one term a student in Allegheny College, later attended Dickinson College, from which institution he graduated in 1844, and immediately thereafter began the study of law at Franklin, in the office of his father, at that time president judge of the eighteenth judicial district. May 25th, 1847, he was admitted to the bar, and immediately after located in Pittsburgh, where his brilliant oratory soon won for him a fair share of practice. In 1853 he became associated with T. J. Keenan in the newspaper business in that city, and in 1855 was appointed prothonotary of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. He resigned this position in May, 1858, to accept an appointment in the office of Jeremiah S. Black, who was at the time attorney general of the United States in the cabinet of James Buchanan. Subsequently he was appointed assistant attorney general, the duties of which he discharged during the continuance of that administration, and then returned to his home in Franklin and resumed the practice of law, in partnership with James K. Kerr. In 1862 he entered the army, as lieutenant colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-Second regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, and in the fall of 1864 became colonel of the Two Hundred and Eighth regiment, by way of indirect promotion. He served during the remainder of the war, commanded a brigade in the assault upon Petersburg, and in recognition of his gallantry in this and other bloody engagements, received from the secretary of war the brevet rank of brigadier general. On retiring from the service he again resumed the practice of his profession in Franklin, and continued the same until his death. He will always be remembered as one of the brilliant lawyers and gallant soldiers of Venango county. He possessed in a marked degree the elements of the orator, and was at his best before the jury, where his appeals in behalf of his client were frequently powerful and eloquent.
General McCalmont can justly be classed among the prominent leaders of the Democratic party in that section of the state, and was its choice for congress from that district in 1868. In 1872 he was the choice of the Democracy of western Pennsylvania for the gubernatorial nomination, which, however, fell to Charles R. Buckalew. He was a very social gentleman, whole-souled and generous to a fault, and was one of the most admired and popular lawyers of the Venango bar. [HVC 1890, 182]
Having obtained what education the local schools afforded, he pursued his higher studies at Allegheny College and Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pa., graduating from the latter in 1844. Then he read law in his father's office, being admitted to the Venango County bar May 25, 1847. He removed to Pittsburgh and entered upon the practice of his profession, in which his ability and reliable work for his clients soon won him a satisfactory share of the legal business there. He also went into the newspaper field, in which he was associated with T. J. Keenan in 1853. In 1855 he was appointed prothonotary of the Supreme Court district of western Pennsylvania, an office always filled by a lawyer, and resigned it in May, 1858, to accept an appointment as chief clerk to Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, then attorney general of the United States in the cabinet of President Buchanan, with functions since exercised by the deputy attorney general. General McCalmont was appointed the first assistant attorney general, and when later the office of assistant attorney general was created by Congress he was appointed to the position, so serving to the end of the administration. Then he returned to Franklin and resumed law practice, in partnership with James K. Kerr. But he was soon drawn into the military service of the Union, in 1862 recruiting a company of volunteers for the 142d Pennsylvania Regiment, attached to the Army of the Potomac. By regular promotions he rose from captain to lieutenant colonel of that regiment, and in the fall of 1864 became colonel of the 208th Pennsylvania troops, and his record throughout was brilliant. He commanded the brigade in the assault upon Petersburg, and in recognition of his gallantry in that and other engagements received from President Lincoln the rank of brevet brigadier general.
When the war closed General McCalmont came back to Franklin and resumed his profession, in which he was actively engaged until his death. He was regarded as one of the ablest members of the Venango County bar, not alone because of his legal erudition, but also on account of his very remarkable gifts as an orator, his logic and arguments being conveyed with especially telling power by the vigor of his language and precision of expression. His words never missed their mark because of any haziness or indefiniteness, either in his ideas or his manner of clothing them. A Democrat like his father, he was his party's candidate for Congress in 1868 and the choice of western Pennsylvania for the gubernatorial nomination in 1872, when Charles R. Buckalew was nominated. [CAB, 455]