Judge Samuel Smiley Mehard and Ida Augusta Brown

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Husband Judge Samuel Smiley Mehard ^{1 2}

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           Born: 18 Dec 1849 - Sunbury, Butler Co, PA 1 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 19 Sep 1919 - Mercer, Mercer Co, PA 2
         Buried: 

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         Father: Dr. Samuel S. Mehard (1822-Bef 1888) 2 3 4
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 1 Jul 1880 1 2

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Wife Ida Augusta Brown ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 29 May 1883 1
         Buried: 

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         Father: George H. Brown (      -      ) 1
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 M Churchill Brown Mehard ¹

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           Born:  - Mercer, Mercer Co, PA
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Mary Kline (      -      ) 5
           Marr: 21 Jun 1905 5

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General Notes: Husband - Judge Samuel Smiley Mehard

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He received his literary education in the Mercer schools and Westminster College, entering that institution in 1866, from which he graduated in 1869. He then registered as a law student under Hon. John Trunkey, late of the supreme bench of Pennsylvania. He was under Judge Trunkey's tuition until September, 1872, when he was admitted to the bar, and associated himself with Hon. James A. Stranahan, and remained in that connection until he sailed on a tour through England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany in May, 1874. He spent some time as a student of jurisprudence at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, after which he continued his tour of the Continent, and returned home in the summer of 1875. He resumed his law practice with Mr. Stranahan until December 8, 1883, when he was appointed by Gov. Pattison president judge of Mercer County, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge A. McDermitt. He held this position until January, 1885, when he took the oath of office by virtue of his election to the same position. He was a Democrat and a member of the Second United Presbyterian Church.

He was educated in the Mercer schools, and in Westminster College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1869. He studied law under the Hon. John Trunkey, and was admitted to the bar in 1872. He forthwith entered the law office of the Hon. James A. Stranahan, as junior partner, and the firm of Stranahan & Mehard was formed. In 1874, Mr. Mehard went abroad and studied jurisprudence in the University of Heidelberg. He remained a year, and returned in the summer of 1875 to resume his practice in Mercer. In 1883, Governor Pattison appointed him President Judge of Mercer County to succeed Judge A. McDermitt, who had died. In 1885, Judge Mehard was elected to this judgeship, and held the office for the full term of ten years. At the close of this long judgeship he opened a law office in Pittsburgh, while retaining his house in Mercer, and his residence there. In later years the firm practiced as Mehard, Scully & Mehard, the latter being a son. During many of his years in Pittsburgh, Judge Mehard was a member of the faculty of the law department of the University of Pittsburgh, and that institution conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Judge Mehard was a member of the Second United Presbyterian Church of Mercer, and for many years an elder. He was afterwards a regular attendant of the Sixth United Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. He was a director of the First National Bank of Mercer; a trustee of Westminster College; a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, and of the Mercer Bar Association. He was a charter member of the Solid Comfort Fishing Club of Mercer, which he assisted in organizing in 1879.
Judge Mehard died at his home in Mercer, after a long illness which had confined him to the house for the larger part of the year. He began to fail while his son was with the American Expeditionary Forces in France; and his ill health was attributed at first to a nervous breakdown. More serious trouble developed, however, and he went to Baltimore for an operation. He returned home and did not leave his bed thereafter. He was sixty-nine years old. Judge Mehard was considered an eminent lawyer, an upright and able judge; a congenial companion, and a Christian gentleman. He was widely acquainted throughout Mercer County, and throughout the State as well. In Pittsburgh, where he practiced for the twenty-five years preceding his death, and in the State Department at Harrisburg, he conducted many important and some famous causes. He held Mercer County and its inhabitants in the highest regard, and never could be induced to give up his house among them and remove to Pittsburgh. When the old home he loved was burned down a few years before his death, he enlarged his property holdings, and built
for his mother and himself the large handsome house, where he died, and where he had planned to pass his old age. [PAH, 43]

1 Editor, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 686.

2 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 43.

3 Editor, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 685.

4 Aaron L. Hazen, 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1908), Pg 705.

5 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 44.