Hon. Wilson McCandless, LL.D. and Sarah North Collins

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Husband Hon. Wilson McCandless, LL.D. ^{1 2 3}

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           Born: 19 Jun 1810 - Noblestown, North Fayette Twp, Allegheny Co, PA 1 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 30 Jun 1882 - Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, PA 1
         Buried: 

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         Father: William McCandless (      -      ) 2
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 4 Dec 1834 4

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Wife Sarah North Collins ⁴

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         Father: Thomas Collins (1774-1814) 5 6
         Mother: Sarah Lowrey (      -      )

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Children

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1 F Mary Elliott McCandless ⁴

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2 M Stephen Collins McCandless ⁴

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3 F Margaret Duncan McCandless ⁴

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General Notes: Husband - Hon. Wilson McCandless, LL.D.

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He was born at Noblestown, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1810; was educated at the Western university, read law with George Selden, Esq., and was admitted to the bar June 19, 1831. He was in partnership in the practice of law, for some time, with W. W. Fetterman, and afterward, for many years, with his brother-in-law, William B. McClure. He was appointed Judge of the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, by President Buchanan, February 8, 1859. He resigned, and retired to private life, July 24, 1876, and died at his residence in Pittsburgh.

He was educated at the Western University of Pennsylvania, studied law in his native city, and was admitted to the bar on his twenty-first birthday. He practiced law with diligence and success until the 8th of February, 1859, when he was appointed by President Buchanan, District Judge of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, from which position, having resigned on account of failing health, he retired on the 24th of July, 1876, during the sitting of the Court at Erie, participating in the ceremony incident to the qualification of his successor. He died at his residence on the bank of the Allegheny River, in the suburban part of Pittsburgh.
Judge M'Candless was not only noted as a lawyer of eminence, but during the earlier period of his life was widely known as a politician. In 1844, 1852 and 1856 he was Senatorial Elector for President and Vice-President of the United States; twice President of the Electoral College of Pennsylvania, and Chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation in the Democratic National Convention of 1848, at Baltimore. A friend, referring to this period of his life, has written of him that "although at times politics ran very high, engendering angry and bitter animosities, yet he was always so much of the gentleman and so little of the demagogue, that he ever retained the respect and love of his fellow citizens." As a public speaker he was conspicuous, and his orations on several occasions were long remembered. His address of welcome to John Quincy Adams, in 1843, his eulogy on General Jackson in 1847, and his address at the Allegheny Cemetery, on the occasion of the reinterment of Commodore Barney and Lieutenant Parker of the U. S. Navy, were, perhaps, the most noted. The degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Union College, New York. He was for fifteen years an Inspector, and part of the time President of the Board of Inspectors of the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania; was for many years a trustee of the Western University of Pennsylvania; one of the originators and a manager of the Allegheny Cemetery at Pittsburgh, from the time of its organization until his death; first President of the Pittsburgh Homeopathic Hospital, and a Vestryman of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church.

1 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part I (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 261.

2 —, Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I (New York: Atlantic Publishing & Engraving Co., 1889), Pg 145.

3 —, Proceedings of the Celebration of the First Centennial of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Franklin, PA: The Venango County Bar Association, 1905), Pg 59.

4 —, Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. I (New York: Atlantic Publishing & Engraving Co., 1889), Pg 146.

5 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 254.

6 —, Proceedings of the Celebration of the First Centennial of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Franklin, PA: The Venango County Bar Association, 1905), Pg 58.