Husband Judge Glenni W. Scofield 1 2 3
Born: 11 Mar 1817 - Dewittville, Chautauqua Co, NY 1 2 3
Christened:
Died: 30 Aug 1891 3
Buried:
Father: Darius Scofield ( - ) 1
Mother: Sallie Glenny ( - ) 1
Marriage: 20 Nov 1845 3
Wife Laura Margaretta Tanner 1 3
AKA: Laura Margaret Tanner 2
Born: 9 Sep 1823 2 3
Christened:
Died: 14 Sep 1909 3
Buried:
Father: Archibald Tanner (1786-1861) 2 3 4
Mother: Margaretta McDowell (1799/1800-1825) 2 3
Children
1 F Ellie G. Scofield 3
Born: 28 Oct 1850 3
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
2 M Archibald Tanner Scofield 3
Born: 4 Jul 1854 - Warren, Warren Co, PA 3
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Kate S. Brecht (1869- ) 3
3 F Mary Margaretta Scofield 3
Born: 2 May 1857 3
Christened:
Died: 17 Feb 1887 3
Buried:
General Notes: Husband - Judge Glenni W. Scofield
In early life he had such educational advantages as are usually furnished in the common schools. When about fourteen years of age he quit school to learn printing, and worked at this trade, off and on, for about three years. At seventeen he went back to his books and entered upon a course of classical study.
In September, 1836, he entered Hamilton College, New York, as a freshman, and graduated from this institution with fair rank of scholarship in 1840. Many years thereafter the college conferred upon him the title of LL.D. The two years immediately following his graduation he spent in teaching; the first in Fauquier County, Virginia, and the second as principal of the academy in McKean County, Pennsylvania. While teaching he studied law, and in December, 1842, was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Warren, Pennsylvania.
Except when interrupted by his several terms of public service, his whole time was devoted to his profession.
In 1846 he was appointed district attorney by Governor Shunk, which place he held for about two years. In 1849 he was elected to the Legislature of the state, and re-elected in 1850. While a member of this body he was esteemed one of its most effective debaters, and was chairman of the judiciary committee. His speech in favor of an elective judiciary was quite widely circulated at the time, and attracted considerable attention throughout the state. Although during his term of service in the Legislature he acted with the Democratic party, as he had uniformly done before, and as he did for some years after, he was always an anti-slavery man. During his college life he was a member of an abolition society, formed by a number of young men in the institution, and never relinquished his early convictions in hostility to slavery. In accordance with these convictions and while still acting with the Demo-cratic party, he advocated the Wilmot proviso, opposed the fugitive slave law and the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and took the anti-slavery side of all kindred questions.
When a Republican party was formed in 1856 he immediately severed his old party connections and in a public address united his Political fortunes with the new party of freedom and progress. In the autumn of that year he was nominated by the Republicans for the State Senate, and in a district, before largely Democratic, was elected by a majority of twelve hundred. He occupied this position three years, and ably sustained the reputation which he had gained as a debater in the lower branch of the Legislature. While in the Senate he introduced and advocated bills to exempt the homestead from sale for debt, and to abrogate the laws excluding witnesses from testifying on account of religious belief. Neither of these bills passed, but Mr. Scofield's speeches in their favor, which were reported and printed, prove that they should have passed. His bills were voted down, but his arguments were not answered. He was more successful in his efforts in connection with other western members to procure State aid for the construction of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad.
For a short time in 1861, by the appointment of Governor Curtin, he was president judge of the district composed of the counties of Mercer, Venango, Clarion, and Jefferson.
In 1862 he was elected a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress and re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-third Congresses; the last time by the State at large. During this twelve years' term in Congress he served on committees on elections, appropriations, Indian affairs, and for six years as chairman of the committee of naval affairs.
March 31, 1878, he was appointed by President Hayes register of the United States treasury, which office he held until May 20, 1881, and then resigned to accept a judgeship on the United States Court of Claims, to which he had been commissioned by President Garfield.
As a debater in Congress, Mr. Scofield was much admired for his analytical, terse, and logical style. Without striving to be amusing, he not infrequently enlivened his argument by pungent satire and humorous illustrations; but the general character of his efforts was that of clear statement and close reasoning. He seemed to aim only at conviction.