Col. Archibald Blakeley and Susan Drum Mechling

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Husband Col. Archibald Blakeley ^{1 2 3 4}

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           Born: 16 Jul 1827 - Forward Twp, Butler Co, PA 5
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           Died: Aft 1883
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         Father: Lewis Blakeley (1794-1845) 2 6
         Mother: Jane McAllister (1797-1882) 2 7

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       Marriage: 1854 - Butler, Butler Co, PA 8

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Wife Susan Drum Mechling ^{8 9}

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         Father: Jacob Mechling, Jr. (1795-1873) 9
         Mother: Jane Thompson (      -1872) 9

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Children

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1 M Frederick Jacob Blakeley ⁸

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2 M Archibald Mechling Blakeley ⁸

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3 M William Augustus Blakeley ⁸

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General Notes: Husband - Col. Archibald Blakeley

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He was born July 24, 1827. [HAC 1889, 351]

He was born near Glade Run, Butler County, Pennsylvania, near its junction with the Connoquenessing, in Forward Township. After securing all the assistance he could in the common schools of his neighborhood, he pushed his way to Virginia and completed his literary course in Marshall Academy, an institution then presided over by the Rev. William McKennan, a brother of T. M. T. McKennan and an uncle of Hon. William McKennan, a United States Circuit Judge. To enable him to finish his education at this institution, he occasionally taught school, having charge of the children of the more wealthy families of the F. F. V.'s, according to the old order of things. Returning to Pennsylvania, he entered as a law student in the office of Hon. George W. Smith, in Butler, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1852 (Nov. 9). During this period, he taught school near Brownsdale as a means of assisting him in his expenses.
In October, 1853, he was elected District Attorney for Butler County. He was elected on the Whig ticket, being the last of the line of Whig candidates, politics taking a radical change soon after.
In company with Thomas Robinson, Esq., he was sent as a delegate to the first Republican Convention held in this State, being held in Masonic Hall, in the city of Pittsburgh, on the 22d of February, 1855, and took part in the deliberations of that body. He was afterward presented as a candidate for State Senator for the Senatorial district composed of the counties of Beaver and Butler, but gave way in the conference to Hon. De Lormia Imbrie, of Beaver. He followed up his profession with great diligence and fair success until the breaking-out of the war in 1861, when he took an active part in recruiting the Seventy-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was mustered into the service of the United States on the 17th of September of the same year, as Lieutenant Colonel, at once accompanying his regiment to Kentucky. He remained with it until after the battle of Shiloh, when he was appointed by Gen. Buell President of General Court Martial and Military Commission, over which he presided at their respective sittings at Nashville, Tennessee, during the summer of 1862. The Colonel was as brave in the field as he was wise in council. Wherever placed, he acquitted himself with credit to himself and benefit to his country.
On leaving the service in 1864, on account of sickness in his family, he commenced the practice of the law in Franklin, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1868, when he removed to Pittsburgh. While in Franklin, he was concerned for Hon. C. V. Culver, a banker, who was also at that time a Member of Congress. He failed financially, his liabilities amounting to several millions. He was charged with embezzlement and conspiracy to embezzle. He was arrested on a capias in a civil action for the alleged conversion of $86,000 of Government bonds, on oath of Col. J. S. Myers. He gave bail on a criminal charge, and went to jail on the capias.
When Congress met, he presented his application for discharge from imprisonment to Judge Trunkey, then Common Pleas Judge of Venango County. A Habeas Corpus was issued. His imprisonment was alleged to be a breach of his privileges as a Member of Congress. The application for discharge was finally refused, whereupon application was made to Congress. Col. Blakeley made the arguments in the case before the Judiciary Committee, and, on their report, Congress resolved that his imprisonment was a breach of the privileges of the House, and the Sergeant-at-Arms was sent to Franklin to conduct the absent member to Washington. Col. Blakeley received great credit for his successful management of the case. It was alleged that there was no precedent in this country by which the case could be governed, and therefore recourse was naturally had to English Parliamentary law, which was found, on examination, to sustain the application for release. From the time he opened up his law office in Pittsburgh, in 1868, he devoted himself to the practice of his profession. He kept up his relations to the organization of the Army of the Cumberland. On its meeting at Pittsburgh, he delivered the address of welcome, and was chosen to deliver the annual address before that organization at Milwaukee in the fall of 1883. He also devoted a portion of his time to the Republican cause during the progress of important campaigns. [HBC 1883, 61]

1 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 61, 65.

2 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (R. C. Brown & Co. Publishers, 1895), Pg 1141.

3 James A. McKee, 20th Century History of Butler and Butler County, Pa., and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1909), Pg 246.

4 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 351.

5 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 61.

6 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 64, 236.

7 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883), Pg 239.

8 —, The History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Part II (Chicago, IL: A. W. Warner & Co., 1889), Pg 352.

9 —, History of Butler County, Pennsylvania (R. C. Brown & Co. Publishers, 1895), Pg 730.